Guzman-Reina v. ABCO Maintenance, Inc., and James Virga, individually, Thomas Virga, individually, and Pete Ghazarian, individually Case No.: 17-cv-01299

Judge grants Conditional Certification of Collective Action in the Eastern District of New York
Guzman-Reina v. ABCO Maintenance, Inc., and James Virga, individually, Thomas Virga, individually, and Pete Ghazarian, individually. Case No.: 17-cv-01299

On March 7, 2017, Lead Plaintiff Ms. Guzman-Reina, on behalf of herself and those similarly situated, filed a class and collective action lawsuit in United States District Court – Eastern District of New York against ABCO Maintenance, Inc., and James Virga, individually, Thomas Virga, individually, and Pete Ghazarian, individually. The complaint alleges as follows:

Ms. Guzman-Reina worked for Defendants — a full service commercial maintenance company that provides general construction, repairs, and scheduled maintenance for its clients – as a dispatcher from September 23, 2013 through May 2, 2016. From around February 2014 until the end of her employment, Defendants required Plaintiff to work between forty-five and fifty hours per week, and, on most occasions, intentionally failed to compensate her at any rate of pay, and on some occasions simply paid her straight-time for some hours worked over forty. By purposefully failing to pay Plaintiff the statutorily-required overtime rate of one-half her straight-time rate of pay for any hour that she worked in excess of forty, Defendants willfully violated Plaintiff’s rights guaranteed to her under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) as well as the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). Further transgressing the law, Defendants neglected to provide Plaintiff with proper wage statements on each payday or with an accurate wage notice at the time of hire.

With respect to the claim that Defendants paid and treated all of their dispatchers in the same manner, Plaintiff filed a collective certification motion pursuant to the collective action provisions of the FLSA. Accordingly, on March 5, 2018, Judge Peggy Kuo, granted the conditional certification of a class collective action and authorized the parties to send out notice to all putative members.

If you worked as a dispatcher for ABCO Maintenance, Inc. at any time between March 7, 2014 to the present, you might be entitled to join a lawsuit seeking back pay for wage violations. For additional details, including how to join, please view the notice below. If you have any information that may be relevant to this case, please contact Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C. as soon as possible through one of our websites, www.employmentlawyernewyork.com or www.516abogado.com, or any of our phone numbers: (516) 248-5550, (516) ABOGADO, or (212) 679-5000.

Read: Court Stipulation and Proposed Order
Read: Court Authorized Notice of Lawsuit
Read: Reminder Notice