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

De Los Santos Perez v. Kaotic Auto Parts & Motorcycle Repair Corp., and Michael Deluca, individually, and Kevin Ross, individually, and Anthony White, JR., individually; Index No.:25-cv-5899

Plaintiff, De Los Santos Perez 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 Kaotic Auto Parts & Motorcycle Repair Corp., and Michael Deluca, and Kevin Ross, and Anthony White, Jr., alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”), and the New York Codes Rules and Regulations (“NYCRR”), including the failure of Defendants to compensate Plaintiff for overtime wages.  The claims of the case are as follows:

• Plaintiffs worked for Defendants – – a New York corporation that operates an auto-body shop in Brooklyn, New York, and its owners and day-to-day overseers – – as a mechanic from September 25, 2018, until March 3, 2025.
• Specifically, Defendants required Plaintiffs to work, and Plaintiffs did work, in excess of forty hours each workweek, or virtually each week. Yet in exchange, Defendants paid Plaintiff a flat daily rate that did not change regardless of how many hours he worked in a day or in a week, and which, from the beginning of the Relevant Period until January 26, 2020, fell below the minimum wage rate the New York law requires per hour of work.
• Additionally, Defendants did not pay Plaintiff at the rate of one and one-half times his regular rate of pay, or one and one-half times the minimum wage rate, if greater, for the hours that he worked over forty in a week, in violation of the FLSA and the NYLL overtime provisions, or at least the minimum wage rate per hour worked, in violation of the NYLL’s minimum wage provisions
• Moreover, Defendants made unlawful deductions from Plaintiff’s wages for damage allegedly caused to Defendants’ tools and customers vehicles, in violation of the NYLL.  Defendants further violated the NYLL by failing to furnish Plaintiff with any wage statement on each payday, let alone an accurate one
• Defendants paid and treated all their non-managerial mechanics workers in the same manner.

Defendant violated Plaintiffs’ rights guaranteed to them by the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the NYLL and the NYCRR.  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 April 28, 2026, the Court ordered the approval of a collective action 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  March 2019 – 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.