Judge Grants FW’s Motion in Potential Class Action Case

Long Island employment lawyers, Famighetti & Weinick, PLLC, represented a Long Island limousine company accused in a class action lawsuit of not paying its employees’ tips and overtime. On September 15, 2017, a Nassau County Supreme Court justice granted F&W’s motion to dismiss the case. The situation is discussed below.

F&W’s client operates a limousine company. According to the plaintiff in the case, he alleged that the company did not pay its drivers proper overtime for the hours he, and other employees, worked over 40 in a week. The plaintiff further alleged that the company collected gratuities from its customers and told the customers that the tips would be given to the drivers, but that the company then kept the tips, instead of paying them to the drivers. Additionally, the plaintiff alleged his pay stubs did not meet the requirements of the New York Labor Law’s Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA). The plaintiff attempted to bring his claims as a class action, on behalf of himself and all of the limousine company’s drivers.

F&W partner and Long Island employment lawyer Matt Weinick filed a motion on behalf of the limousine company seeking to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety. Among other things, Weinick argued that the plaintiff’s last pay stub proved he was paid properly, that the overtime claim was otherwise not sufficiently stated and supported by facts in the complaint, that the allegations relating to the tip issue were not sufficiently stated in the complaint, and that since those claims failed, the wage statement claim was also required to be dismissed under the law.

On September 15, 2017, Supreme Court Justice Randy Sue Marber granted the motion to dismiss the case. The Court agreed that the plaintiff’s complaint failed to state sufficient facts to support his claim about unpaid overtime. Additionally, the Court determined that the plaintiff did not rebut the information about his overtime pay reflected by his pay stub, which Weinick submitted to the Court. On the tip claim, the Court also agreed with Weinick that the plaintiff “merely sets forth the elements of the claim” without stating facts which supported the claim. Finally, the Court also agreed that dismissal of the wage statement claim was appropriate based on the affirmative defense in the Labor Law that the plaintiff must show a wage payment violation first, and that he failed to do so.

In sum, F&W successfully defeated a plaintiff’s attempt to bring a class action wage and hour lawsuit against its client. The firm obtained the result early in the case, saving the client from significant litigation costs.

If you have questions about class actions or unpaid wage, overtime, or tip cases, contact a Long Island employment lawyer at Famighetti & Weinick, PLLC at 631-352-0050 or visit our website at https://www.linycemploymentlaw.com.