Martinez v. JLM Decorating Inc., Case No.: 20-cv-2969-AJN

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

Martinez v. JLM Decorating Inc., Case No.: 20-cv-2969-AJN

As previously reported on this website, in Martinez v. JLM Decorating, Inc., Case Number:20-cv-2969, on May 18, 2020, Lead Plaintiff, Mr. Martinez, on behalf of himself, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, filed a collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court Southern District of New York against JLM DECORATING, INC. (“JLM Decorating”), and JLM DECORATING NYC INC. (“JLM NYC”), and COSMOPOLITAN INTERIOR NY CORPORATION “Cosmopolitan”), and MOSHE GOLD, individually, and JOSAFATH ARIAS, 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 referenced in our May 2020 blog post and are reviewed as follows:

Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – three corporations that operate as a single enterprise that runs a New York City-based painting and renovation business for commercial clients and its day-to-day overseer – – as a painter, primarily in Manhattan and always in New York, from on or around April 22, 2018 through November 21, 2018;
Throughout his employment, with limited exceptions as explained below, Defendants willfully failed to pay Plaintiff the overtime wages lawfully due to him under the FLSA and the NYLL;
Defendants routinely required Plaintiff to work beyond forty hours per week, paid Plaintiff on an hourly basis for only forty hours of work per week, and thus failed to compensate Plaintiff at any rate of pay, let alone at the statutorily-required overtime rate of time and one-half his regular rate of pay for any hours that Plaintiff worked per week in excess of forty;
Defendants paid and treated all their non-managerial employees who worked on their job sites in the same manner.

Defendant violated Plaintiff’s rights guaranteed to him by the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the NYLL and the NYCCRR. Furthermore, also in violation of the NYLL, again with limited exceptions detailed below, Defendants failed to provide Plaintiff with accurate wage statements on each payday or provide Plaintiff with any wage notice at the time of his hire, let alone an accurate one.

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 17, 2021, 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 10, 2017 – 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.