They are affectionately known as the “DQ Sisters”: Patty DeMint and Michelle Robey, sisters who pooled their money to fulfill their dream of opening a Dairy Queen franchise in Meaford, New York, in 2017.
At first, it was all ice cream and candy as the couple fostered a beloved community center while doing everything they could for their employees: from offering money in times of need to delivering Christmas gifts to their workers’ children. They also gained a reputation for hiring locals looking for a second chance.
“Whether you’re a felon, whether you’re missing, whether you’re 80 years old or 14 years old,” DeMint told CBS News (1), “everyone needs a place to call home when it comes to work.”
But then in 2019, the ice cream center hit a rocky road when a former employee filed a lawsuit against the sisters for violating a vague, Depression-era New York state law. Suddenly, DeMint and Robey were faced with a $6 million lawsuit that threatened to bankrupt them and close their store.
New York’s Frequency of Pay law (2) requires that “manual workers” be paid weekly. It’s a law the sisters said they had never heard of, which is why they paid their employees biweekly, a process they said was never reported to anyone, not even during an audit by the state Department of Labor.
Robey told CBS that the lawsuit was “ridiculous,” adding that “we knew we paid every employee every penny they were owed.” But his sister noticed that the former employee, who had been fired, “said all the time, ‘I’m going to get you, I’m going to get you,’ and he did.”
Ultimately, the lawsuit, which included allegations of wage withholding and overtime pay, became part of a trend of lawsuits against New York companies, according to CBS, filed by law firms soliciting, through social media ads, claimants who were paid biweekly.
Labor attorney Howard Wexler told the news outlet that the lawsuits “turned what was a law requiring you to pay your employees weekly into a ‘gotcha’ based on a technical violation.”
The sisters, who feared losing their business and possibly their homes as a result of the lawsuit, ended up settling out of court for $450,000. However, after the lawyers took their cut, the former employees were only paid about $200 each, CBS reported.
“The lawyers structured it so they got 1/3 of the larger payout,” Robey said. Trihamlet News (3).
“Employees are getting pennies on the dollar, which is further proof that these lawsuits don’t help the employees, they help the lawyers.”
An employee who works with the DQ sisters has created a GoFundMe (4) to help them, noting that they created a “true second chance company” and became “surrogate mothers when life gets tough” for their workers.
Meanwhile, the DQ Sisters stepped up and helped protect other small business owners from having to deal with a similar nightmare by successfully working with state legislators to change the law. Starting in May, companies that pay their workers biweekly would only have to pay interest owed on “late” wages, a far cry from the sisters’ multimillion-dollar payout.
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The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) aims to ensure fair wages, overtime compensation, and adequate working conditions for workers in the United States. Still, despite the FLSA, organizations like Working America, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, warn that “if your paycheck doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t” (5). And that’s not hyperbole.
A 2024 report from the Economic Policy Institute found that government anti-wage theft efforts recovered more than $1.5 billion in stolen wages for American workers in just a two-year period, between 2021 and 2023 (6). “Wage theft,” they say, “is pervasive across every industry and income level in the country.”
That’s why Working America recommends keeping a close eye on your pay stub and immediately reporting any discrepancies to your employer to ensure they are corrected in a timely manner.
They also suggest keeping your own records of all the hours you spend at work (and even, if you’re comfortable doing so, asking your boss to sign it periodically, thus verifying it) and checking with your coworkers, human resources, and even legal representation if you’re experiencing ongoing shortfalls in your wages.
In the meantime, employers should be aware of the various federal, state, and local payroll laws to avoid what ADP describes as “penalties that could negatively impact their bottom line or even put them out of business” (7).
The payroll and human resources firm notes that common employers’ payroll errors often revolve around misclassifying employees and contractors, as well as errors related to workers’ compensation and failure to comply with the Equal Pay Act.
Staying on top of the issue by using tools like payroll software and compliance checklists can, they add, “help avoid tax issues and maintain positive workforce morale.”
Other experts suggest ensuring employees are clear about wage and overtime policies, maintaining accurate and up-to-date payroll records, and implementing training sessions to ensure all employees and managers fully understand the company’s payroll policies.
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CBS News (1); New York State Department of Labor (2); Trihamlet News (3); GoFundMe (4); Working America (5); Economic Policy Institute (6); ADP (7)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
