California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase

Pizza Hut is laying off more than 1,200 delivery drivers in California.

The layoffs, which will take place through the end of February, come as California's minimum wage is about to go up by $4. Fast-food workers in the state are set to get a pay bump of close to 30% in April as the minimum wages rises from $16 to $20 an hour.

PacPizza, LLC, operating as Pizza Hut, said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice that the company made a business decision to eliminate first-party delivery services and, as a result, the elimination of all delivery driver positions, according to Business Insider. The notice was filed with the state's Employment Development Department.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to give notice of mass layoffs or plant closures.

Southern California Pizza Co., a second Pizza Hut franchise, is also eliminating its in-house delivery services and laying off 841 drivers, according to a WARN Act notice from Dec 1.

The layoffs impact drivers at Pizza Hut locations in Sacramento, Palm Springs, Los Angeles and other cities throughout the state.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

That's because they are going to offer to re-hire them as "independent contractors."

And that's only because the Dumbass Democrats in Sacramento didn't account for that in the legislation.

Oh, sure. They will say Pizza Hunt is "exploiting" a "loophole."

But anyone with half a brain could have anticipated that. Who and how workers are classified as "independent contractors" needs to fixed. They are really employees in all but name.

[quote]The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done.[/quote]

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-defined