Alvarez v. Cambridge Kitchens MFG Inc. and Neoklis Vasiliades, individually Civil Case No.: 18-cv-05419

New Collective Action filed in the Eastern District of New York
Alvarez v. Cambridge Kitchens MFG Inc. and Neoklis Vasiliades, individually Civil Case No.: 18-cv-05419

On September 26, 2018, Plaintiff Alvarez, on behalf of himself, individually, and, on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit against CAMBRIDGE KITCHENS MFG INC. (“Cambridge”) and NEOKLIS VASILIADES (“Vasiliades”), individually, (collectively as “Defendants”). The complaint alleges as follows:

Mr. Alvarez worked for Defendants – – a Hicksville-based construction company that offers luxury kitchen design, manufacture, and installation services, and its owner, chief executive officer, and daily overseer – – from around September 2016 until March 19, 2018. Throughout his employment, Plaintiff’s primary duty, as a cabinet installer, consisted of installing cabinets in Defendants’ clients’ homes located throughout New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. During his employment, Defendants required Plaintiff to work five to six days per week, from 7:30 a.m. until anywhere between 5:00 and 8:30 p.m., with no uninterrupted breaks, for a total of between forty-seven and seventy-two hours per week. Defendants did not pay Plaintiff at the rate of one-half times his regular rate of pay for any hours that he worked in excess of forty per week, and instead paid him at his straight-time rate for some of those hours worked. Further, Defendants failed to compensate Plaintiff with an extra hour of pay at the minimum wage rate for each workday in which Plaintiff’s spread of hours exceeded ten hours. Defendants failed to pay Plaintiff the wages lawfully due to him under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). In further violation of the NYLL, when Defendants paid Plaintiff, they failed to provide him with a wage statement that accurately listed his actual hours worked for that week, or an accurate listing of his hours worked to be paid at his overtime or straight-time rate of pay. Defendants paid Plaintiff $14.50 per hour for all hours that he worked up to forty per week. Defendants, however, would pay Plaintiff, in cash, at the same rate $14.50 per hour for some of the hours that Plaintiff worked per week in excess of forty, and nothing for many, if not most, of the hours that Plaintiff worked over forty in a week. Around August 2017, Defendants fully stopped paying Plaintiff at all for any hours that he worked over forty in a week, thus, Plaintiff complained to Vasiliades that he was not being paid any overtime, but Vasiliades ignored Plaintiff’s complaint. In or around January 2018, Plaintiff complained to Vasialiades, again, that he was not receiving any overtime compensation. Vasialiades, clearly irritated, warned Plaintiff to stop bringing it up. Plaintiff, however, disregarded Vasidiales’s warning to stop complaining about not receiving overtime compensation, and on March 19, 2018, made another complaint to Vasiliades. In response, Vasiliades told Plaintiff that he was “not needed anymore” and terminated Plaintiff’s employment on the spot, in further violation of the anti-retaliation provisions of the FLSA and NYLL.

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 through or by phone: (516) 248–5550, (516) ABOGADO, or (212) 679–5000.