General Employment Law

Chavez  v. John McGowan & Sons of Sea Cliff, Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons, and John McGowan & Sons of N.Y., Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons, and John McGowan & Sons, Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons, and James McGowan, individually, and John J. McGowan III, individually ; Index No.:25-cv-411

New Action filed in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York

Chavez  v. John McGowan & Sons of Sea Cliff, Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons, and John McGowan & Sons of N.Y., Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons, and John McGowan & Sons, Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons, and James McGowan, individually, and John J. McGowan III, individually ; Index No.:25-cv-411

On January 24, 2025, Plaintiff Chavez, by and through his attorneys, Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C., as and for his Complaint against John McGowan & Sons of Sea Cliff, Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons (“Sea Cliff”), and John McGowan & Sons of N.Y., Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons (“N.Y.”), and John McGowan & Sons, Inc., d/b/a John McGowan & Sons (“McGowan”), (together, where appropriate, as “the Corporate Defendants”), and James McGowan, individually (“James”), and John J. McGowan III, individually (“John”), (collectively, with the Corporate Defendants where appropriate, as “Defendants”), alleges upon knowledge as to himself and his own actions, and upon information and belief as to all other matter, as follows:

Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – three legally distinct New York corporations that together operate as a single integrated enterprise to run a Nassau County-based construction business and the enterprise’s two owners and day-to-day overseer – – as a non-managerial laborer, performing working at various jobsites in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, from in or around June 2022 until in or around July 2023.  As described below, throughout Plaintiff’s employment, Defendants willfully failed to pay him the overtime wages lawfully due to him under the Fair Standards Labor Act and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). Specifically, throughout his employment, Defendants routinely required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did work, beyond forty hours in a workweek, yet in exchange, Defendants paid Plaintiff a flat weekly salary that did not change based on how many total hours Plaintiff worked in a week, and which did not include overtime premiums at the statutorily-required of one and one-half times his regular rate of pay for all hours that he worked in excess of forty in a week. Defendants further violated the NYLL by failing to furnish Plaintiff with any wage statement on each payday or with any wage notice at his time of hire, let alone an accurate one.  Defendants paid and treated all of their non-managerial laborers in the same manner.

If any individual is or has previously been an employee of 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.

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Borrelli & Associates

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