Argudo v. Maletona Corp. d/b/a Fino Ristorante Italiano, and Peter G. Vulaj, individually Civil Case No.: 1:18-cv-06017

New Action filed in the Southern District of New York
Argudo v. Maletona Corp. d/b/a Fino Ristorante Italiano, and Peter G. Vulaj, individually Civil Case No.: 1:18-cv-06017

On July 2, 2018, Plaintiff, Mr. Argudo, filed a civil action lawsuit against Maletona Corp. d/b/a Fino Ristorante Italiano, and Peter G. Vulaj, individually for wage violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”), and the New York Comp. Codes Rules and Regulations (“NYCCRR”). The complaint alleges as follows:

Mr. Argudo worked for Defendants – a fine dining restaurant that serves Italian cuisine — and its owner and day-to-day supervisor as a cook from October 18, 2016 until November 4, 2017. Throughout his employment, Defendants required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did work, six days per week, on Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. until at least 10:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m. In addition to working at Fino Restorante Italiano, located at 1 Wall Street in Manhattan, Defendants required Plaintiff Argudo to cook or prepare for private parties on a boat that they primarily operated in the Upper New York Bay about four times a week during the summer months and once or twice a week during the other three seasons until 1:00 a.m. Although Plaintiff was permitted to take a one-hour break about two to three times per week, he worked over ten hours on each workday. Thus, Plaintiff typically worked between 73 and 85 hours per week. Nonetheless, for the entirety of his employment, Defendants paid Mr. Argudo a flat weekly salary of $600.00 per week which was intended to cover only the first forty hours that he worked per week and which yielded an hourly rate of $15.00. Defendants’ failure to pay Plaintiff at any rate of pay, let alone at his overtime rate of $22.50 per hour, for the 33 to 45 excess hours that he worked each week was in violation of the overtime provisions of the FLSA, NYLL, and NYCCRR. Moreover, Defendants failure to pay Plaintiff spread-of-hours compensation violated the NYLL and NYCCRR’s requirement that hospitality employees receive one hour’s pay at the minimum wage rate for any day in which the interval between the beginning and end of an employee’s workday exceeds ten. In further violation of the NYLL, Defendants neglected to furnish Mr. Argudo with a wage notice at hire containing specific categories of information.

If any individual is or has previously been an employee for the Defendants named in the lawsuit and/or has information that may be relevant to this case, please contact Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C. as soon as possible.