Liang v. USA QR Culture Industrial Development LLC

Background

Katyun Liang and Xiaohao Fang brought a collective action for themselves and other similarly situated workers against their former employer, USA QR Culture Industrial Development LLC, doing business as Hutaoli Music Restaurant & Bar, and against Wei You and “Jane” You. The complaint asserted claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the New York Labor Law, the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act, and New York wage regulations.

Defendants moved to dismiss three claims: late payment of wages under New York Labor Law § 191; failure to provide wage notices under § 195(1)(A); and failure to provide wage statements under § 195(3). Defendants argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing—meaning they had not alleged a legally sufficient injury—and that they had failed to state valid claims.

Report and Recommendation

Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger recommended granting the motion in part and denying it in part. He recommended denying dismissal of the late-payment claim because § 191 provides a private right to sue and the plaintiffs had alleged a concrete injury. He recommended dismissing the wage-notice and wage-statement claims, with leave to amend, because the complaint alleged statutory violations but did not allege an injury in fact.

Neither side objected to the recommendation. Because the parties had been warned that failing to object would waive judicial review, the district court reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake on the face of the record.

Ruling

Judge Paul G. Gardephe found the recommendation thorough, well reasoned, and free of clear error. The court agreed that controlling New York authority supported allowing the late-payment claim to proceed and agreed that the wage-notice and wage-statement allegations did not show an injury in fact.

The court adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendation in its entirety. It granted in part and denied in part defendants’ motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs could seek to amend the wage-notice and wage-statement claims by December 11, 2023, and any amendment had to include factual allegations showing an injury in fact. The clerk was directed to terminate the motion.