On October 2, 2013, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a lawsuit alleging that Defendants Moonstruck Diners failed to pay non-exempt workers the proper minimum wage rate, overtime pay and spread-of-hours pay as required under the Fair Labor Standards Act (\u201cFLSA\u201d) and the New York Labor Law.<\/p>\n
On July 2, 2014 the Court granted Plaintiff\u2019s Motion for an Order Granting Class Certification, Court Authorization and Expedited Discovery pursuant to 29 U.S.C. \u00a7 216(b) and denied Defendants\u2019 Cross-Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c). Juarez v. 449 Rest., Inc., <\/i>No. 13-cv-06977 (S.D.N.Y. July 2, 2014), ECF. No. 33.<\/p>\n
The named Defendants include three Moonstruck Diner locations \u2013 449 Restaurant, Inc., 88 2nd<\/sup> Ave. Food Corp., and Pirgos Food Corp. Defendant moved for judgment on the pleadings as to Plaintiff\u2019s claims against 88 2nd<\/sup> Ave. Food Corp. and Pirgos Food Corp. contending that those claims should be dismissed for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted as Plaintiff has not alleged that he ever worked more than 40 hours in any week at those two locations and therefore has not adequately pled that those locations violated the FLSA overtime provisions. The court rejected this argument, adopting the \u201csingle integrated enterprise\u201d test pursuant to Plaintiff\u2019s request. The court held that Plaintiff sufficiently pled facts that indicate that the three locations operated as a single integrated enterprise, thus qualifying as a single statutory \u201cemployer\u201d under the FLSA, making 88 2nd<\/sup> Ave. Food Corp. and Pirgos Food Corp. additionally responsible for the hours Plaintiff worked at all three locations.<\/p>\n