Najera v. Atmi Junior Laundromat Inc.

Background

Adelina Najera sued Atmi Kurtishi and Atmi Junior Laundromat Inc. under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the New York Labor Law (NYLL), and New York wage regulations. She alleged that she was not paid the required minimum wage or overtime, did not receive spread-of-hours pay, and was not given required wage notices, wage statements, or other employment information. She also sought liquidated damages, interest, attorney’s fees, and costs.

The parties disputed how long Najera worked at the laundromat. She initially alleged that she worked there from 2015 through 2020, while the defendants contended that she worked only temporarily during several weeks. After trial, Najera sought damages based on the defendants’ payroll records. The court found that she worked seven non-contiguous weeks in 2018, 2019, and 2020. The court determined that she worked more than 40 hours during only one week and worked 46 hours during the week of March 6 through March 12, 2020.

Findings About FLSA Coverage

The court found that the laundromat did not have gross annual sales of at least $500,000 in any year from 2015 through 2020. The court relied primarily on the laundromat’s admitted tax returns, which showed annual gross income below $200,000 during that period. The court also found that Najera was not engaged in interstate commerce or in producing goods for interstate commerce.

Because Najera did not prove the requirements for FLSA coverage, the court concluded that her federal wage claims failed as a matter of law. The court treated the $500,000 requirement as an element of the FLSA claims rather than as a limit on the court’s power to hear the case. It therefore retained authority to decide the related New York claims, particularly because a bench trial had already occurred and dismissing those claims would be inefficient and inconvenient.

New York Wage Claims

The court found that the defendants willfully failed to pay the applicable New York minimum wage and overtime wages. Atmi Kurtishi testified that Najera was paid $10 per hour even though he knew the applicable minimum wage was higher. He also admitted that Najera was not paid overtime or spread-of-hours pay.

The court awarded Najera $527 in unpaid minimum and overtime wages and an additional $527 in liquidated damages. It awarded $120 in unpaid spread-of-hours wages and an additional $120 in liquidated damages.

Kurtishi also admitted that Najera never received wage notices or wage statements. Although Najera requested damages based on twelve days of violations, the court found that the records supported eleven days. It awarded $550 for wage-notice violations and $2,750 for wage-statement violations, for a total of $3,300 on those claims.

Disposition

The court ordered that Najera could not recover damages on her FLSA claims. It awarded the specified damages on her New York minimum-wage, overtime, spread-of-hours, wage-notice, and wage-statement claims. The court also permitted Najera’s counsel to submit an application for attorney’s fees by July 26, 2023; the opinion did not itself award a fee amount.