Frazier v. FCBC Community Development Corporation

Background

Kyndra Frazier sued FCBC Community Development Corporation under the New York Labor Law. She claimed that FCBC failed to pay her the minimum wage and failed to provide required wage notices and wage statements. The court held a jury trial from February 20 through February 22, 2024.

The agreed verdict sheet asked whether Frazier’s work as Executive Director of the HOPE Center was separate from her role as Associate Pastor, whether FCBC was her employer for the HOPE Center work, and how many hours she worked there for FCBC. The jury found that Frazier was owed wages for 1,040 hours. The parties agreed that the court would determine the wage amount and decide the wage-statement, wage-notice, liquidated-damages, and prejudgment-interest issues.

Unpaid wages

Frazier sought $15,600, using the 2020 minimum-wage rate. FCBC argued for $12,702.32 by spreading the 1,040 hours across the entire damages period. The court found, based on unrebutted trial testimony, that the HOPE Center joined FCBC around January 2020 and that Frazier therefore began working for FCBC in January 2020. The court assigned all 1,040 hours to the period from January 2020 until Frazier was fired in June 2020. Applying the agreed 2020 minimum-wage rate, the court awarded $15,600 in unpaid wages.

Wage-statement claim

The court rejected Frazier’s claim for wage-statement damages. New York Labor Law § 195(3) requires an employer to provide a wage statement with each payment of wages. The court held that Frazier could not base that claim on wage payments she should have received but did not receive. The wage-statement claim therefore failed.

Good-faith defense and wage-notice damages

FCBC argued that its good-faith belief exempted it from liquidated damages and wage-notice damages. Under the court’s stated standard, an employer seeking that defense must provide plain and substantial evidence that it took active steps to determine what the New York Labor Law required and then tried to comply.

The court found that FCBC did not meet that burden. Hiring an attorney to formally transfer the HOPE Center from the church to FCBC did not show an effort to determine what the labor law required. The remaining evidence showed only FCBC’s belief that Frazier did not have two jobs, which the court viewed as ignorance of the law or facts rather than an effort to comply. The court awarded liquidated damages equal to the unpaid-wage award and $5,000 in statutory damages for the wage-notice violation.

Prejudgment interest and judgment

The parties agreed to a 9% prejudgment-interest rate, calculated from June 23, 2022, the complaint’s filing date, through February 22, 2024, the last day of trial. They also agreed that interest would apply only to the unpaid-wage award. The court awarded $2,344.65 in prejudgment interest.

The court entered final judgment in the amount of $38,544.65. The amount consisted of $15,600 in unpaid wages, $15,600 in liquidated damages, $5,000 in wage-notice damages, and $2,344.65 in prejudgment interest.