Lara v. Broadway S/S Inc.; Case No.: 20-cv-05010-LGS

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

Lara v. Broadway S/S Inc.; Case No.: 20-cv-05010-LGS

On June 30, 2020, Lead Plaintiff, Mr. Lara, on behalf of himself, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court Southern District of New York against BROADWAY S/S INC., and AFTAB HUSSAIN, individually, (“Defendants”), alleging deliberating violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) and the New York Comp. Codes, Rules, and Regulations (“NYCCRR”), including the failure of Defendants to compensate Plaintiffs for overtime wages. The claims of the case are reviewed as follows:

• Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – a Manhattan-based vehicle repair station and its owner and day-to-day overseer – – as a mechanic, from in or around July 2014 until March 16, 2020.
• Throughout his employment, Defendants willfully failed to pay Plaintiff the overtime wages lawfully due to him under the FLSA and the NYLL or the minimum wage required under the NYLL.
• Defendants required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did in fact work, in excess of forty hours virtually each week, yet Defendants failed to compensate Plaintiff at least at the rate of one and one-half times the minimum wage, or one and one-half times his regular rate, whichever was greater, for any hours that he worked in excess of forty in a week.

• Defendants paid Plaintiff a flat weekly salary that did not include overtime premiums and that brought his regular hourly rate below the minimum that New York requires for all hours worked.

• Defendants paid and treated all their mechanics in the same manner.

Defendant violated Plaintiff’s rights guaranteed to him by the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the NYLL and the NYCCRR.  Additionally, Defendant violated the NYLL by failing to provide Plaintiffs with accurate wage statements on each payday or with any wage notice at the time of their respective hires, let alone an accurate one.

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 October 2, 2020, 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  June 30, 2014 – 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.