Judge grants Conditional Certification of Collective Action in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York

Romero v. Frame Auto Collision Inc. and Jesus Pagan, individually, Docket No.: 24-cv-1998 (JMA)(ARL)

Plaintiff, Romero on behalf of himself, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court District Eastern District of New York against FRAME AUTO COLLISION INC. and JESUS PAGAN, individually, (collectively, where appropriate, as “Defendants”), alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”), and the New York Comp. Codes, Rules, and Regulations (“NYCCRR”), including the failure of Defendants to compensate Plaintiff for overtime wages. The claims of the case are as follows:

Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – a New York corporation that operates a Nassau County-based auto body shop and its owners and day-to-day overseer. Plaintiff Romero worked for Defendants as a car detailer from in or around April 1, 2022, through on or about April 7, 2023.

Specifically, Defendants required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did work, beyond forty hours in a workweek, yet from beginning of his employment until on or about December 31, 2022, Defendants paid plaintiff a flat weekly salary that did not include overtime compensation at the rate of one and one-half times his regular rate for any hours that Plaintiff worked over forty in a week, and from January 1, 2023, until the end of his employment, Defendants paid Plaintiff on an hourly basis for only his forty hours of work in a week and nothing for his hours worked in a week over forty.

Additionally, Defendants further violated the NYLL by failing to provide Plaintiff with an accurate wage statement on each payday or with any wage notice upon his hire, let alone an accurate notice or statement.
Furthermore, Defendants also violated the FLSA, the NYLL, and the New York common law by retaining/converting for their own use all tips that customers intended to give to Plaintiff for work that he performed on their cars.

Defendants paid and treated all their non-managerial manual workers in the same manner.

Defendant violated Plaintiffs’ rights guaranteed to them by the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the NYLL and the NYCCRR. Additionally, Defendants violated the NYLL by failing to provide Plaintiffs with any wage notice upon hire or throughout the relevant period; and provide Plaintiffs with an accurate wage statement on each payday.

Certification of Collective Action

In this case, pursuant to the request of the Plaintiffs, the Judge reviewed claims that the Plaintiffs brought forward alleging that there are additional workers in the same “class” (performing the same or similar duties) whose rights have been violated. On June 12, 2025, the Court ordered the approval of a collective action for, allowing the case to proceed as a collective action enabling any current and former employees who were not paid properly to join the lawsuit and seek redress for Defendants’ failure to compensate them in accordance with the law.

If you or a person you know worked for the Defendants named in the lawsuit during the time period of April 2022 – present or has information that may be relevant to this case, contact Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C. as soon as possible through one of our websites, www.employmentlawyernewyork.com, www.516abogado.com or any of our phone numbers: (516) 248-5550, (516) ABOGADO, and (212) 679-5000.