Jones v. The Montessori School of Kingston Inc., and Talat F. Mallick, individually Case No.: 5:00-at-99999

New Action filed in the Northern District of New York
Jones v. The Montessori School of Kingston Inc., and Talat F. Mallick, individually Case No.: 5:00-at-99999

On June 5, 2018, Plaintiff, Ms. Jones filed a civil action lawsuit against The Montessori School of Kingston Inc. (“Montessori”), and Talat F. Mallick (“Mallick”). The complaint alleges as follows:

Ms. Jones worked for Defendants as a Teacher’s Assistant from July 27, 2015 to August 23, 2017. Defendant Montessori is a pre-school and day-care service provider located in Ulster County, New York. Defendant Mallick is the Chief Executive Officer of Defendant Montessori and direct supervisor of Plaintiff. Defendants represent on their website that they use the Montessori teaching techniques and hire teachers that are certified in this style of education. As a Teacher’s Assistant for Defendants, Plaintiff’s primary duties required her to perform physical labor more than twenty-five percent of the time because for the majority of the workday, she supervised approximately forty-eight children between the ages of two and five years old, fed them, lifted them to change their diapers, and cleaned the classroom. From September 1, 2015 through June 30, 2017, with the exception of the months of July and August of each year within this period, Defendants required Ms. Jones to work five days a week, from between 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. until any time between 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., without an uninterrupted break, for a total of forty-five to 47.5 hours per week, and sometimes more. From September 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016, Defendants paid Plaintiff $9.00 per hour for all hours that she worked per week. From January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2017, Defendants paid Plaintiff $10.00 per hour for all hours that she worked. Thus, Defendants willfully failed to compensate Plaintiff Jones at the statutorily-required rate of one and one-half times her regular rate of pay for any hour that she worked in a week in excess of forty, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). Moreover, by choosing to pay Plaintiff on a bi-weekly basis, Defendants violated the NYLL’s requirement that employers pay wages to their employees who preform manual labor not less frequently than on a weekly basis. In further violation of the NYLL, Defendants failed to furnish Ms. Jones with a wage notice at the time of her hire or with wage statements that accurately listed Plaintiff’s overtime rates of pay for each week throughout her employment.

If any individual is or has previously been an employee for 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.