Lopez v. MNAF Pizzeria, Inc.

Background

Ivan Lopez and Kevin Campos sued MNAF Pizzeria, Inc. and Musa Nesheiwat under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the New York Labor Law, and the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act. The claims involved minimum wages, overtime, spread-of-hours pay, retention of tips, unlawful deductions, unpaid wages, and required wage notices.

MNAF operated Sal’s Pizzeria. The court found that Nesheiwat owned 49% of MNAF, hired both plaintiffs, set their schedules and pay, and sometimes paid them. Lopez worked as a delivery person during periods from January 2014 through mid-October 2017. Campos worked as a delivery person from August 2015 through September 2017. Both were paid $5 per hour and did not receive overtime pay or spread-of-hours premiums.

The court found that Lopez generally worked about 48 hours per week, including shifts from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Campos generally worked at least about 36 hours per week, including a Sunday shift from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. or later. Neither plaintiff received formal breaks. The defendants did not maintain accurate records of the plaintiffs’ hours, pay, or tips. The plaintiffs were not told the details of a tip credit, and MNAF kept at least $25 per week from credit-card tips. Neither plaintiff was reimbursed for at least $25 per week in gas expenses, and neither received the required written wage notice. The court also found that Campos was not paid $130 for his final week of work.

Earlier Summary-Judgment Rulings

Before trial, the court had ruled that the plaintiffs were covered employees under the federal and New York wage laws and that Nesheiwat was personally liable for the claimed violations. The court also ruled that the defendants could not claim a tip credit; were liable on the federal and New York minimum-wage claims; failed to pay the required overtime rate; and were liable on the unlawful-deduction and Wage Theft Prevention Act claims. The court further ruled that the plaintiffs were entitled to liquidated damages under whichever law provided the greater amount and to prejudgment interest.

Trial and Merits Rulings

The court held a bench trial on July 11 and July 13, 2022. A bench trial is a trial decided by the judge rather than a jury. The trial addressed damages for the minimum-wage, overtime, unlawful-deduction, and wage-notice claims, as well as the spread-of-hours, illegal-tip-retention, and failure-to-pay-wages claims.

The court held that the plaintiffs were entitled to spread-of-hours pay under New York law because they regularly worked days whose beginning-to-end interval exceeded 10 hours and were not paid even the minimum wage. The court held that the defendants violated New York Labor Law § 196-d by retaining part of the credit-card tips. The court also held that the defendants violated New York Labor Law § 191 by failing to pay Campos for his final week of work.

The conclusion states that the defendants were found liable as to all of the plaintiffs’ claims. The court did not determine a final damages amount in this opinion because the plaintiffs had not submitted a damages calculation. It ordered the plaintiffs to submit one by April 20, 2023, and permitted the defendants to respond by May 9, 2023. Any attorney’s-fee request was subject to the same deadlines.