Ramirez v. Tifaret Discount, Inc.

Background

Elfido Ramirez sued Tifaret Discount, Inc., doing business as Redelicious Supermarket, Baruch Ausch, and Zelig Weiss. He alleged race and ethnicity discrimination and a hostile work environment under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and the New York Human Rights Law. He also alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL), including failure to pay minimum wage, overtime, and other required wages, failure to provide wage notices, and retaliation under the NYLL whistleblower statute.

According to the complaint, Ramirez worked for the defendants from approximately February 2020 until April 29, 2021, first as a stocker and later also as a delivery person. He alleged that he worked long hours, was not paid for all hours, was not paid overtime, and was not paid for two grocery shifts and four delivery shifts during his final week. He also alleged that defendants deducted time for meal breaks he did not receive and delayed wage payments when holidays affected the usual Friday payday. Ramirez further alleged discriminatory treatment of Hispanic employees and that Weiss struck him in the face with a metal-rimmed can. Ramirez reported the incident to police, and he alleged that Ausch later fired him after asking him to drop the charges.

Motion to Dismiss Standard

The defendants sought partial dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), which asks whether the complaint alleges enough facts to state a legally plausible claim. At this stage, the court generally accepts the complaint’s factual allegations as true and draws reasonable inferences for the plaintiff, but it does not accept bare legal conclusions.

Minimum-Wage Claims

The court held that Ramirez sufficiently alleged federal and state minimum-wage claims for his final week of work because he alleged that he received no payment for two grocery shifts and four delivery shifts, totaling approximately $491 in unpaid wages. The court also held that he sufficiently alleged a New York minimum-wage claim for February through September 2020 based on the alleged weekly deduction of one unpaid hour while he was paid the New York minimum wage.

The court did not find a federal minimum-wage claim based only on that one-hour deduction because the federal minimum wage was lower than New York’s minimum wage. It also held that Ramirez did not plausibly allege federal or state minimum-wage violations for the other periods of employment. The court reasoned that his alleged average hourly pay during those periods remained above the applicable minimum wage, even accounting for the alleged deductions and unpaid time.

The court therefore denied the motion as to the federal and state minimum-wage claims for the final week of work and as to the NYLL minimum-wage claim for February through September 2020. It granted the motion as to all other federal and state minimum-wage periods.

Late-Payment Claims

The court granted the motion to dismiss Ramirez’s FLSA late-payment claim. Although courts recognize a prompt-payment requirement under the FLSA, the complaint did not allege facts showing that the holiday-related payment delays lacked a legitimate business reason, were unreasonable, or were intended to evade minimum-wage or overtime requirements.

The court concluded that the NYLL provides a private right of action for a manual worker’s weekly-payment requirement. However, it granted the motion to dismiss Ramirez’s NYLL late-payment claim because the complaint did not say when he received payment during the week after a holiday. The allegation that payment was delayed until “at least the following week” could describe a payment within seven days after the end of the workweek, which would comply with the statute.

Whistleblower-Retaliation Claim

The court granted the motion to dismiss Ramirez’s NYLL whistleblower-retaliation claim. The statute, as applicable to the alleged conduct, required an alleged violation that created a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety. The court held that the single alleged assault by Weiss did not meet that requirement. It also noted that New York decisions had held that an assault or battery by a supervisor does not constitute the kind of public danger covered by the statute.

Disposition

The court stated that the defendants’ motion was granted in part and denied in part. The surviving claims were Ramirez’s federal and state minimum-wage claims for his final week of work and his New York minimum-wage claim for February through September 2020. The remaining minimum-wage claims, both late-payment claims, and the NYLL whistleblower-retaliation claim were dismissed. Because this was the first adjudication of the claims on the merits, Judge Kenneth M. Karas deemed the dismissals without prejudice and permitted Ramirez to file an amended complaint within 30 days if he had a good-faith basis to address the deficiencies.