Veleva v. Sebastian's Pizzeria Inc

Background

Valentina Veleva brought claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal wage-and-hour law, and the New York Labor Law against Sebastian’s Pizzeria Inc., doing business as Lazzara’s Pizza, Sebastian Lazzara, and Tony Lazzara. The opinion states that Sebastian’s Pizzeria Inc. owns and operates Lazzara’s Pizzeria, and that Sebastian and Tony Lazzara jointly own and operate it. Veleva worked as a server from January 2024 through June 2024.

Veleva alleged that servers were subject to common wage practices. She claimed that the defendants improperly used New York’s tip-credit minimum wage without providing required written notice, required servers to perform non-tipped side work, failed to distribute certain customer tips properly, failed to pay the New York “spread of hours” premium, and failed to pay all hours worked, including overtime and other premium pay.

Conditional Certification Standard

The court explained that FLSA collective actions generally proceed in two stages. At the first stage, the plaintiff must make a modest factual showing that she and potential employees who may join the case are similarly situated—that is, that they had similar job responsibilities and were affected by a common policy or plan that allegedly violated the law. The court does not resolve factual disputes, decide the ultimate merits, or make credibility determinations at this stage.

Court’s Analysis

The court found Veleva’s showing sufficient. Her complaint stated that the restaurant’s servers had substantially similar job duties and pay provisions. Her declaration provided additional details about the servers’ duties, including taking orders, serving food and drinks, bussing tables, washing dishes, packaging takeout orders, and cleaning the restaurant.

Veleva also identified fourteen employees by first name whom she said had discussed the defendants’ wage practices with her. According to Veleva, those employees reported that they were paid below the full minimum wage, were not given written wage notices, were not paid overtime, and did not receive all tips. The court held that these allegations were sufficient at the conditional-certification stage, while noting that discovery could later lead to decertification or division into subclasses.

Scope of Notice and Other Relief

The court authorized notice to all non-exempt service employees who participated in the tip pool—described as servers—employed at Lazzara’s Pizza on or after June 28, 2021. The court accepted the three-year notice period because Veleva alleged willful FLSA violations and the three-year period applies if willfulness is proven. The court found it unnecessary to replace “servers” with “waiters/waitresses.”

The court also found unnecessary the defendants’ requested changes to the proposed notice, including requests for additional information about the defendants’ position, statements that the case was not sanctioned by the court, and information about discovery and trial obligations. The court agreed that the notice did not need to include defense counsel’s contact information.

The court approved a 60-day period for potential plaintiffs to opt into the collective. It also granted Veleva’s request for information about potential members. Within two weeks of the order, the defendants were ordered to provide names, last known addresses, last known telephone numbers, last known email addresses, employment dates, and positions held for potential members of the defined collective. Veleva’s counsel could arrange for notice to be sent by mail, email, and/or text message.

Disposition

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil granted Veleva’s motion for conditional class certification, court-authorized notice under Section 216(b) of the FLSA, and an order requiring the defendants to produce the requested information. The order addressed only whether notice should issue and whether potential members could be treated as similarly situated for this initial stage; it did not decide the underlying wage claims.