Pyramid Owner Reaches $450,000 Settlement with Alehouse Workers
Around 300 current and former workers of Seattle’s Pyramid Alehouse will split a $450,000 settlement for unpaid wages, according to the Seattle Times.
FIFCO USA, the parent company of Pyramid Brewing Company, will pay some workers nearly $10,000 for allegedly not paying them for overtime, inaccurately recording hours worked, or “time shaving” by deleting hours from time sheets, the outlet reported.
Jeremy Brotherton, a now-former Pyramid Alehouse prep worker and dishwasher, told the outlet that his hours worked would be adjusted to below 80 hours so that the company would avoid paying for overtime.
The lawsuit also accused the company of not allowing workers to take breaks or giving them time to eat meals during their shifts.
A FIFCO USA spokesperson said the company takes employee complaints seriously and reviews all of its practices following complaints.
Manhattan Beer Distributors, Delivery Drivers Engaged in $50 Million Lawsuit
Delivery drivers are suing New York’s Manhattan Beer Distributors in federal court for alleged wage theft, according to Law360.com.
The case, first filed in 2015, resurfaced last week as workers and the beer wholesaler presented motions for summary judgment.
According to the lawsuit, the beer wholesalers’ drivers claim that the company violated New York labor law by docking their pay for items such as “missing beer cans and unreturned pallets.” The drivers say the company attempted to recoup standard operational costs from them “first through garnished wages and eventually through invoices enforced by the threat of termination.”
“The practice strikes me as especially appalling in light of the fact that this beer behemoth with a virtual stranglehold on the metro New York beer market chooses to illegally impose its losses on workers whose financial standing is far more precarious than its own,” Steven Wittels, an attorney for the drivers, told Law360.
Manhattan Beer Distributors has disputed the drivers’ claims, arguing that the company did not violate labor laws because “a commission does not become a ‘wage’ until it is ‘earned.’”
Left Hand Enters CBD-Infused, Non-Alcoholic Drink Market
Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing Company is partnering with WAAYB Organics to launch a new line of CBD-infused, non-alcoholic sparkling water drinks called Present.
Present will come in three flavors — “natural,” lemon-lime and blood orange — and checks in at zero calories and 20 mg of “full spectrum CBD distillate from hemp grown” on WAAYB’s USDA certified organic Northern Colorado farm. Online sales are slated to begin August 12, according to a press release.
“We oversee the entire process from putting seeds into soil, to cultivation, harvesting, extraction and distillation,” WAAYB Organics CEO Scott Cusack said in the release. “We firmly believe this is the only way to create CBD products our customers can trust.”
Left Hand COO Chris Lennert will serve as Present’s general manager, while Taylor Sarachek will be the company’s brand manager.
Anheuser-Busch Banned From New Delhi for 3 Years
Accusations of tax evasion has led the government in New Delhi, the capital of India, to slap Anheuser-Busch InBev with a three-year ban from selling its offerings in the city, according to Reuters.
A three-year investigation of SABMiller, which A-B acquired in the 2016 $100 billion MegaBrew merger, found that the beer company was using duplicate barcodes on beer bottles provided to retailers in order to pay lower excise taxes, the outlet reported.
The world’s largest beer manufacturer has denied any wrongdoing and plans to appeal the ban.
A-B’s Bud Light and Post Malone Release Limited-Edition Merch
Bud Light and Post Malone are releasing a limited-edition line of unisex streetwear on the rapper’s website on August 5.
A-B will kickoff the launch with a New York City pop-up shop (89 Crosby Street) on August 4 and 5. Items range in price from $10 to $250.
“We have always thought about launching a merch collection but doing it with an artist that we’ve watched grow over the years makes it so much more special,” Shana Barry, director of Experiential for Bud Light, said in a press release. “We love that Post and his team were able to take some classic and iconic Bud Light imagery and infuse it into the collection that we hope people love.”