Carlo v. Prestige Lawns, Inc. and Rodney Wechsler, individually Civil Case No.: 18-cv-05578

New Collective Action filed in the Southern District of New York
Carlo v. Prestige Lawns, Inc. and Rodney Wechsler, individually Civil Case No.: 18-cv-05578

On June 20, 2018, Plaintiff Carlo, on behalf of himself, individually, and, on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit against PRESTIGE LAWNS, INC (“Prestige”) and RODNEY WECHSLER (“Wechsler”), individually, (together as “Defendants”). The claim alleges as follows:

Mr. Carlo worked for Defendants – – a landscaping company located in Rockland County and its Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) – – as a landscaper from around 2000 until Spring 2013, and then as a misclassified “manager” from about summer of 2013 until approximately June 2017. 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”). Specifically, from beginning of employment until Spring 2013, while Plaintiff worked as a landscaper, Defendants required Plaintiff to work more than forty hours per workweek during the months of March to October but paid him at the same hourly rate for all hours worked per week, and thus failed to pay him at his statutorily-required overtime rate of time and one-half his regular rate. During the summer of 2013, Wechsler, on behalf of Defendants, “promoted” Plaintiff to “manager.” Regardless of the change in title, in this capacity, Plaintiff’s duties primarily remained the same as a landscaper (mowing lawns, applying fertilizers, and pulling weeds). The only difference was that on occasion, Plaintiff recruited individuals to interview with Defendant. However, Plaintiff had no input into whether Defendants hired any of the candidates, and moreover, once the individuals were hired, Plaintiff’s primary duties did not include managing them or anyone, but rather, remained the same landscaping work. Despite giving Plaintiff a nominal promotion to the position of “manager,” Defendants misclassified Plaintiff as exempt from federal and state overtime laws, still required him to work more than forty hours per week during the months of March to October, paying Plaintiff a flat salary intended to cover only his first forty hours worked per week. During Mr. Carlo’s entire employment, Wechsler was (and is) the CEO of Prestige and Plaintiff’s direct supervisor. In that role, Wechsler was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Prestige and managing its employees, including all matters with respect to determining employees’ rates and methods of pay, their hours worked, the distribution and assignment of work duties, and the hiring and firing of employees.

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.

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 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.