Judge grants Conditional Certification of Collective Action in the United States District Court District of Connecticut

Benitez  v. Russell Speeder’s Management Company L.L.C d/b/a Russel Speeder’s Car Wash, and Michael Shullman, individually, Docket No.: 3:23-cv-01666-JAM

Lead Plaintiff, Mr. Benitez, 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 of Connecticut  against RUSSELL SPEEDER’S MANAGEMENT COMPANY L.L.C. d/b/a Russel Speeder’s Car Wash (“RSWC”), and MICHAEL SHULLMAN, 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 reviewed as follows:

• Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – a Connecticut limited liability company that operates a chain of car washes in, at least, Connecticut, New York, Nebraska, and Missouri, and its owners and day-to-day overseer – – as a customer service associate in Bedford Hills, New York, from February 28, 2022, to March 13, 2023;

• Specifically, Defendants required Plaintiff, and Plaintiff did work, in over forty hours virtually each week, but Defendants willfully failed to pay Plaintiff the overtime wages lawfully due to him under the FLSA and the NYLL or all of his earned commissions due under the NYLL;

• Instead, throughout his employment, Defendants routinely required Plaintiff to work in excess of forty hours virtually each week. However, Defendants failed to compensate Plaintiff with all of his commissions, and thus failed to properly calculate Plaintiff’s regular rate of pay, and thereby failed to calculate and compensate Plaintiff a his proper overtime rate of one and one-half times his regular rate of pay for his hours worked over forty;
• Additionally, Defendants, automatically deducted one hour each shift from Plaintiff’s hours worked for a meal break, despite not permitting Plaintiff to take an uninterrupted meal break.

• Defendants paid and treated all their non-managerial employees, including cashiers, customer service associates, sales associates, car wash associates, and full-service technicians, 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 Plaintiff with any wage notice upon hire or throughout the relevant period; and 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 August 5 2024, the Court ordered the approval of a collective action for multiple locations of the Defendants, 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 February 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.