18th Annual Workplace Class Action Report - 2022 Edition

Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report: 2022 Edition 99 other employees were paid in the same manner. The Court held that Plaintiffs met their lenient burden required for conditional certification. However, the Court found that the statements by Plaintiffs presented as evidence of similarly-situated employees only as to nail workers, massagers, and drivers. Hence, without specific references to other types employees in Plaintiffs declarations, the proposed collective action was overly-broad. The Court therefore granted Plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification, and limited the parameters of the collective action to nail workers, massagers, and drivers. Manfredo, et al. v. VIP Auto Group Of Long Island, Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206288 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 26, 2021). Plaintiff, a commission-paid auto dealership salesperson, filed a collective action alleging that Defendant failed to pay minimum wage and overtime compensation in violation of the FLSA. Plaintiff filed a motion for conditional certification of a collective action, which the Court granted. Plaintiff alleged that throughout his employment he was paid a weekly salary, plus commission and bonuses on the sales he made. Plaintiff contended that there were numerous weeks he was only paid his $400 per week salary, regardless of how many hours he worked, because he failed to make any car sales. Plaintiff further asserted that he was never paid overtime compensation although he regularly worked over 40 hours in a workweek. In support of his motion, Plaintiff offered his own declaration, in which he attested that he was regularly scheduled to work 50 or more hours per week, but usually worked beyond his scheduled time for 60 hours or more per week. Plaintiff further averred that he was paid $300 a week as salary plus a $100 salary bonus if he met certain targets, and that if he did not make any automobile sales in a given week, he was not paid anything additional. Defendants did not oppose granting conditional certification of a collective action of salespersons for the dealership at which Plaintiff worked, but it opposed conditional certification of a collective action for all seven automobile dealerships named as Defendants in this action. Id . at *9. Defendants argued that Plaintiff failed to demonstrate that he was similarly-situated to other putative collective action members and that Plaintiff failed to demonstrated a common unlawful compensation policy. Id . at *12. The Court disagreed. After its independent assessment of the motion and the record, the Court held that Plaintiff made the requisite showing necessary to demonstrate that he and other salespersons were similarly-situated for purposes of conditional certification. The Court determined that there was nothing improper in terms of conditional certification of a collective action of employees spanning multiple locations based on the allegations and affidavit of a single Plaintiff who worked at only one location. The Court reasoned that the inquiry into whether Plaintiff was similarly-situated to all salespersons at all locations would be better answered at the second stage of certification. Accordingly, the Court granted Plaintiff’s motion for conditional certification of a collective action. Martinez, et al. v. JLM Decorating Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177533 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 17, 2021). Plaintiffs, a group of painters, filed a collective action alleging that Defendant failed to pay overtime compensation in violation of the FLSA. Plaintiffs filed a motion for conditional certification of a collective action, which the Court granted. Plaintiffs contended that Defendant regularly and systematically failed to pay overtime hours. Plaintiffs sought conditional certification of a collective action consisting of all non-managerial, hourly employees. In support of their motion, Plaintiffs submitted their own declarations attesting to the amount of hours they worked without overtime pay and that they were aware of a number of other similar employees at the company who had the same experience. Id . at *5. Plaintiffs also specifically identified certain co-workers that they worked with and explained that they observed those individuals working similar hours to Plaintiffs and recalled conversations that they had with them regarding the lack of overtime pay. Id . Defendant argued that Plaintiffs failed to establish that they were similarly-situated because they worked in different locations, had different working conditions, different work hours, and that some were paid cash and some were paid by check. The Court rejected Defendant’s arguments on the basis that as long as there were shared issues of law or fact that were material to Plaintiffs’ claims, then any other dissimilarities would not defeat conditional certification. The Court held that Plaintiffs’ evidence was sufficient to demonstrate that Plaintiffs and other non-managerial workers performed similar job duties and were not paid overtime pursuant to a common policy or scheme. Id . at *5-6. For these reasons, the Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification of a collective action. McLean, et al. v. Cornucopia Logistics, LLC, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157963 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 20, 2021). Plaintiff, a delivery driver, filed a collective action alleging that Defendant failed to pay overtime compensation and minimum wage in violation of the FLSA. Plaintiff filed a motion for conditional certification of a collective action, which the Court denied. Plaintiff typically worked five days per week, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., without