Gravini v. Banana King Group LLC d/b/a IT’S WAAO, and Eliecer Montonya, individually; Index No.:25-18477

Judge grants Conditional Certification of Collective Action in the United States District Court of New Jersey

Plaintiff, Gravini on behalf of herself, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court of New Jersey Banana King Group LLC d/b/a IT’S WAAO, and Eliecer Montoya, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (“NJWHL”), and the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (“NJWPL”), including the failure of Defendants to compensate Plaintiff for overtime wages.  The claims of the case are as follows:

• Plaintiffs worked for Defendants – – a New Jersey limited liability company that operates at least seven fast-food restaurants in New Jersey, as well as its owner and day-to-day overseer – – primarily at Defendants’ location in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, with occasional shifts at Defendants’ restaurants in both Paterson and Clifton, New Jersey, first as a cashier from October 1, 2023, to December 4, 2024, then as a “manager,” a managerial position in name only, from December 5, 2024, to August 1, 2025, and then again as a cashier from August 2, 2025, to November 16, 2025.
• Specifically, Defendants required Plaintiffs to work, and Plaintiffs did work, in excess of forty hours each workweek, or virtually each week Yet in exchange, Defendants paid Plaintiff on an hourly basis at her regular rate for each hour that she worked, and thus Defendants did not pay Plaintiff at her overtime rate of one and one-half times her regular rate for the hours that she worked over forty in a week, in violation of the FLSA’s and the NJWHL’s overtime provisions.
• Additionally, Defendants also violated NJWPL by withholding a portion of Plaintiff’s wages on several occasions to compensate them for missing money in the cash register.
• Defendants paid and treated all their hourly employees at all of their locations in the same manner.

Defendants violated Plaintiffs’ rights guaranteed to them by the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the NJWHL and the NJWHL.

Certification of Collective Action

In this case, pursuant to the request of the Plaintiffs, the Judge reviewed claims that the Plaintiffs brought forward alleging that there are additional workers in the same “class” (performing the same or similar duties) whose rights have been violated.  On May 5, 2026, the Court ordered the approval of a collective action allowing the case to proceed as a collective action enabling any current and former employees who were not paid properly to join the lawsuit and seek redress for Defendants’ failure to compensate them in accordance with the law.

If you or a person you know worked for the Defendants named in the lawsuit during the time period of October 2023 – present or has information that may be relevant to this case, contact Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C. as soon as possible through one of our websites, www.employmentlawyernewyork.com, www.516abogado.com or any of our phone numbers: (516) 248-5550, (516) ABOGADO, and (212) 679-5000.