Valdez v. Michpat & Fam, LLC, d/b/a/ Dairy Queen Grill & Chill Restaurant, and Patricia Nappo, a/k/a Patricia DeMint, individually, Civil Case No.: 20-cv-2570

New Action filed in the Eastern District of New York

Valdez v. Michpat & Fam, LLC, d/b/a/ Dairy Queen Grill & Chill Restaurant, and Patricia Nappo, a/k/a Patricia DeMint, individually, Civil Case No.: 20-cv-2570

On June 09, 2020, Plaintiff Valdez filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York against MICHPAT & FAM, LLC, d/b/a DAIRY QUEEN GRILL & CHILL RESTAURANT (“Dairy Queen”), and PATRICIA NAPPO, a/k/a PATRICIA DEMINT, individually (“DeMint,” and together with Dairy Queen, where appropriate, as “Defendants”), alleging upon knowledge as to herself and her own actions and upon information and belief as to all other matters, as follows:

Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – a Suffolk County-based Dairy Queen franchise and its managing member/general manager – – as an hourly manual worker and then as a “manager” from approximately late-December 2017 until on or around October 25, 2019, whom Defendants always paid on an hourly basis.  As described below, throughout times during Plaintiff’s employment, Defendants willfully failed to pay Plaintiff the overtime wages lawfully due to her under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”).  Specifically, at times throughout Plaintiff’s employment, Defendants required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did work, in excess of forty hours in a week, yet Defendants failed to compensate Plaintiff at the statutorily-required overtime rate of one and one-half times her regular rate of pay, or one and one-half times the minimum wage, whichever is greater, for all hours in excess of forty in a week.  Instead, whenever Plaintiff worked over forty hours in a week, both before and after she became a “manager,” Defendants paid Plaintiff at her straight-time hourly rate of pay for her first forty hours only, and then paid her for any additional hours beyond forty at her straight-time rate by attributing those hours to a different week of work when she worked fewer than forty hours, thereby avoiding paying her overtime premium pay and often delaying payment of those wages.

Additionally, Defendants violated the FLSA and the NYLL by failing to pay Plaintiff at a rate that was at least equal to the statutorily-required minimum wage for all hours worked from April 2019 through September 2019, and instead randomly chose when and how much to pay Plaintiff during this period, at amounts that totaled less than the minimum wage for all hours worked.  Defendants further violated the NYLL and the N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. (“NYCRR”) by failing to: provide Plaintiff with spread-of-hours pay whenever her workday exceeded ten hours from start to finish; pay Plaintiff, a manual worker, at least as frequently as on a weekly basis; provide Plaintiff with accurate wage statements on each payday; and provide Plaintiff with any wage notice at the time of hire, let alone an accurate one.  With the exception of Plaintiff’s minimum wage claims, Defendants paid and treated all of their manual workers in the same manner.

Accordingly, Plaintiff brought this lawsuit against Defendants pursuant to the collective action provisions of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), on behalf of herself, individually, and on behalf of all other persons similarly-situated during the applicable FLSA limitations period who suffered damages as a result of Defendants violations of the FLSA.  Plaintiff also brought this lawsuit under New York law on behalf of herself, and on behalf of any FLSA Plaintiff, who opts-in to this action.  Lastly, Plaintiff brought this lawsuit as a class action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”) 23, on behalf of herself, individually, and on behalf of all other persons similarly-situated during the applicable NLYY limitations period who suffered damages as a result of Defendant’s violations of the NYLL and the supporting New York State Department of Labor regulations.

If any individual is or has previously been an employee of the Defendants named in the lawsuit and/or has information that may be relevant to this case, please contact Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C. as soon as possible through one of our websites, www.employmentlawyernewyork.com or www.516abogado.com, or any of our phone numbers: (516) 248–5550, (516) ABOGADO, or (212) 679–5000.