Georgia man paid out from job with 91,515 oil-covered pennies dumped on his drive

‘It’s definitely not fair at all,’ says Andreas Flaten

A Georgia man has said that he was paid his last pay cheque from his former employer in the form of more than 90,000 oil-covered pennies that were dumped on his drive.

Andreas Flaten, from Fayetteville, Georgia, told Fox 5 on Wednesday that he struggled to get his last pay cheque from his former boss after he left his job at A OK Walker Autoworks in November, where he claimed to have suffered a toxic work environment.

He said that after going months without his final payment, he contacted the Georgia Department of Labor for help, before in mid-March he finally received the $915 (£667.67) he was owed from his former employer in a different form than expected.

Andreas Flaten posing with the 91,515 pennies in his Georgia home ((Fox 5))

Mr Flaten revealed that he noticed a pile of oil or grease-covered pennies on his drive when he left his house a few days ago, which contained his last pay stub and a note that read “f*** you” placed on top. He said he does not know why his old boss did it.

Over the next few days, Mr Flaten counted the pennies, working out that there were 91,515 of them, which amounted to the $915 he was owed.

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He moved the pennies off his drive and into a wheelbarrow in his garage, but Mr Flaten revealed that their weight caused the tyres to deflate.

“If I’ve done my math correctly, 91,515 pennies should come out to be about - at two and a half grams each - about 504lbs,” Mr Flaten told Fox 5.

Mr Flaten described the form of payment as “a childish thing to do” and revealed that his new routine at night is to now wash the substance off of the pennies.

He said that even though he uses vinegar and dish soap it takes him hours to fully clean just a few hundred of them.

“I think that’s going to be a lot of work for money I’ve already worked for,” Mr Flaten told Fox 5. “It’s going to be hours upon hours of just trying to clean this money up so that it’s even able to be spent. It’s definitely not fair at all,” he added.

Mr Flaten said that he’s cleaning the coins in his garage as he is concerned about the harm the substance could do to the environment, including a freshwater creek located around 100ft away from his drive.

The owner of A OK Walker Autoworks told Fox 5 that he did not want to be part of the story, but confirmed that he paid Mr Flaten in US currency. The Independent has contacted the business for comment.