Egan and Tavolilla v. Safeway Construction Enterprises, LLC, et al. Case No.: 19-cv-02052(RJD)(PK)

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

Egan and Tavolilla v. Safeway Construction Enterprises, LLC, et al. Case No.: 19-cv-02052(RJD)(PK)

On April 10, 2019, Mr. Egan and Mr. Tavolilla, on behalf of themselves, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a class and collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York against SAFEWAY CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES, INC. (“Safeway”), and STEVE CESTARO, individually, and RAYMOND CESTARO, individually, (collectively, where appropriate, as “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:

• Plaintiffs Egan and Tavolilla worked for Defendants – – a site development and utilities construction corporation based in Maspeth, New York, and its co-owners – – as non-managerial laborers.
• Defendants employed Plaintiff Egan as a non-managerial laborer from on or about February 5, 2018 through February 11, 2019.
• Defendants employed Plaintiff Tavolilla as a non-managerial laborer from on or about February 5, 2018 until February 6, 2019.
• Defendants scheduled Plaintiffs, and all other non-managerial laborers, to work scheduled shifts from Monday through Friday, and sometimes Saturday, from either 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. or 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at their assigned work sites, permitting one-half hour per day for a scheduled, uninterrupted break, for a total of forty scheduled hours per five-day week and forty-eight scheduled hours per six-day.
• However, in addition to their regularly-scheduled hours, Defendants, pursuant to a company-wide policy that applied to all of their non-managerial laborers regardless of shift, required Plaintiffs to report to the main office in Maspeth, which was referred to as “the Yard,” one hour before their scheduled shift, which was typically either 7:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. on each day, five or six days per week.
• Upon arrival at the Yard, Defendants required Plaintiffs to perform the following work: clean Defendants’ trucks and tools; load their trucks with tools, equipment, materials, and supplies; and fuel the truck and compressor.
• Defendants did not compensate Plaintiffs at any rate of pay for either this pre-shift work or travel time from the Yard to the work site.

Defendant violated and continue to violate 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 wage statements on each payday that accurately stated the hours that they worked each week.

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 September 3, 2019, 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 April 9, 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.

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