Argudo v. Rugo, LLC d/b/a Portofino Restaurant, and Mario Rugova, individually, Civil Case No.:21-cv-5511

New Action filed in the Southern District of New York

Argudo v. Rugo, LLC d/b/a Portofino Restaurant, and Mario Rugova, individually, Civil Case No.:21-cv-5511

On June 23, 2021, Plaintiff Argudo filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against RUGO LLC d/b/a PORTOFINO RESTAURANT (“Portofino”), and MARIO RUGOVA, individually, (collectively, where appropriate, as “Defendants”), alleging upon knowledge as to himself and his own actions and upon information and belief as to all other matters, as follows:

Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – a New York limited liability company that operates a Bronx-based restaurant and its owner and day-to-day overseer- – – as a non-managerial cook from November 14, 2017, to on or around February 28, 2019. As described below, throughout his employment, Defendants willfully 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, Defendants routinely required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did work, in excess of forty hours in a worker, but paid him a flat weekly salary that operated by law to cover only his forty hours of work in a week, and thus failed to pay Plaintiff at any rate, let alone at the rate of one and one-half times his regular rate, for any hours that Plaintiff worked in a week over forty. Moreover, Defendants paid Plaintiff below the minimum wage rate that the FLSA and the NYLL required for all hours worked. Defendants further violated the NYLL and the N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. (“NYCRR”) by failing to: pay Plaintiff an additional hour’s pay, at the minimum wage rate, for all days during which his spread of hours worked exceeded ten; provide Plaintiff with any wage notice upon his hire, let alone an accurate one; and provide Plaintiff with any wage statement on each payday, let alone an accurate statement.

Defendants paid and treated all of their non-managerial back of the house employees in the same manner. Accordingly, Plaintiffs brought this lawsuit against Defendants pursuant to the collective action provision of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), on behalf of himself, individually, and on behalf of all other persons similarly-situated during the applicable FLSA limitations period, who suffered damages as a result of Defendant’s violations of the FLSA. Plaintiffs also brought his claims under New York law on behalf of himself, individually, and on behalf of any FLSA Plaintiff, as that term is defined below.

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.