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

Knickerbocker v. Ferrandino & Son, Inc., Case No.: 22-cv-2225

Lead Plaintiff, Mr. Knickerbocker, on behalf of himself, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York against FERRANDINO & SON, INC.,(“F&S” or “Defendant”), alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”), and the N.Y. Comp R. & Regs (“NYCRR”), 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 is headquartered in Farmingdale, New York, which operates a national facility maintenance solutions company – – as an area manager and later a territory manager, both which were managerial positions in name only, serving its clients that located throughout the country, from October 2013 to September 10, 2021;

• Specifically, despite Plaintiff’s duties not qualifying him for any exemption, Defendant routinely required Plaintiff to work, and plaintiff did work, in excess of forty hours in workweek, but paid Plaintiff a flat weekly salary, which as reflected on his paystubs, was intended to cover only Plaintiff’s first forty hours of work in a week;

• Furthermore, throughout his employment, Defendants routinely required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did work, beyond forty hours in a workweek, but Defendants paid Plaintiff a flat weekly salary that by operation of law compensated Plaintiff  for only his first forty hours of work each week, and therefore failed to compensate him at any rate of pay, let alone at the statutorily-required overtime rate of one and one-half times his regular rate of pay for any hours that Plaintiff worked in a week over forty;

• Defendants paid and treated all their area managers and territory managers in the same manner.

Defendant violated Plaintiff’s rights guaranteed to him by the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the NYLL and the NYCRR.  Additionally, Defendant violated the NYLL by failing to provide Plaintiff with an accurate wage statement on each payday.

Certification of Collective Action

In this case, pursuant to the request of the Plaintiff, the Judge reviewed claims that the Plaintiff brought forward alleging that there are additional workers in the same “class” (performing the same or similar duties) whose rights have been violated.  On January 19, 2023, Plaintiffs’ motion for approval of a collection action was granted, 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 October 2013 – 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.