Ademi v. Central Park Boathouse, LLC

Background

Skender Ademi brought a proposed collective and class action against Central Park Boathouse, LLC, and Dean Poll on behalf of tipped front-of-the-house restaurant employees. The complaint alleged unpaid overtime and other wages based on an invalid tip credit, inadequate reimbursement for uniform maintenance, improper meal-credit deductions, defective wage statements, and retaliation, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law. Ademi moved for conditional certification of an FLSA collective action, court-authorized notice, approval of notice and consent forms, production of information about potential participants, workplace posting of the notice, and temporary suspension of the FLSA limitations period.

Ademi alleged that Defendants paid tipped employees below the applicable minimum-wage and overtime rates without giving proper tip-credit notice; claimed a tip credit even when employees performed more than 20 percent non-tipped duties; required employees to maintain their uniforms without adequate reimbursement; and deducted meal credits for meals that allegedly did not meet New York requirements. He supported the motion with his declaration and pay-stub examples. Defendants disputed the allegations and argued, among other things, that Ademi had received proper notice of the tip-credit policy and that the employees had been paid lawfully.

Conditional Certification

At the first stage of the FLSA collective-action process, a plaintiff must make a modest factual showing that the proposed participants were subject to a common policy or plan that violated the law. The court does not resolve factual disputes, decide the ultimate merits, or assess witness credibility at this stage.

The court held that Ademi met this preliminary standard based on his personal observations, conversations with coworkers, allegations of common wage practices, and supporting pay stubs. The court therefore granted the motion for conditional certification. It struck “captains” and “assistants” from the proposed group because Defendants said those jobs did not exist at the restaurant and Ademi did not contest that point.

The conditionally certified group consists of people who occupied the jobs of bartenders, bussers, runners, and servers from October 6, 2019, through October 16, 2022, the date the restaurant closed under Defendants’ management as stated in the order. The group does not include people who began working at the restaurant after it reopened under new management in June 2023, unless they had also worked there before the closure.

Notice and Information

The court authorized notice to potential FLSA participants. It limited the notice period to three years before the complaint was filed, from October 6, 2019, through October 16, 2022, rather than the six-year period sought by Ademi. The proposed notice and consent forms were approved after removing references to captains and assistants and changing the notice period.

The court granted Ademi’s request for limited contact information and ordered Defendants to provide his counsel, within ten days, with the names and current or last known addresses of potential participants in the conditionally certified group. The court did not order production of Social Security numbers, email addresses, telephone numbers, compensation rates, job titles, or employment dates. It stated that Ademi could later seek additional identifying information if many mailed notices were returned as undeliverable.

The court denied Ademi’s request to require posting of the notice and consent forms at the restaurant because the restaurant had closed and Defendants no longer operated it.

Equitable Tolling and Disposition

The court granted Ademi’s request to pause the FLSA limitations period beginning on the date he filed the conditional-certification motion. The pause will end when notice is sent to potential opt-in participants. The court cited the delay caused by its docket and concluded that the claims should not be harmed by that delay.

In its conclusion, the court granted in significant part Ademi’s motion for conditional certification and authorized notice in the approved form. It ordered production of the specified names and addresses for the defined group, but denied the request to post notice at the restaurant. The order addressed only the preliminary collective-action process and did not decide the underlying wage, reimbursement, meal-credit, wage-statement, or retaliation claims.