Judge grants Conditional Certification of Collective Action in the Eastern District of New York
Guaman v. Energy Plus NY Corp d/b/a Energy Plus, and Energy Plus NY Inc d/b/a Energy Plus, and Moshe Lefkowitz, individually, and Abraham Lichtenstadter, individually, Docket No.: 22-cv-07401
Lead Plaintiff, Mr. Guaman, on behalf of himself, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court Eastern District of New York against ENERGY PLUS NY CORP d/b/a ENERGY PLUS, and ENERGY PLUS NY INC d/b/a ENERGY PLUS, and MOSHE LEFKOWITZ, individually, and ABRAHAM LICHTENSTADTER 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 – – two New York corporations that operate as a single enterprise to run two Brooklyn-based insulation contracting companies and the enterprise’s two owners and day-to-day overseer – – as an insulator from April 6, 2021, until December 21, 2021;
- Specifically, Defendants required Plaintiff, and Plaintiff did work, in excess of forty hours per week, but Defendants failed to compensate Plaintiff at the statutorily-required overtime rate for those hours;
- Instead, throughout his employment, Defendants routinely required Plaintiff to work, and Plaintiff did work, beyond forty hours in a workweek, but Defendants paid Plaintiff on an hourly basis at his regular rate of pay for all hours worked each week, and therefore failed to compensate him at the statutorily required overtime rate of one and one-half times his regular rate of pay for all hours that he worked per week in excess of forty in violation of the FLSA and the NYLL;
- Defendants paid and treated all their non-managerial laborers 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 February 23, 2023, the Court ordered the approval of a collective action, 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 2021 – 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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