JOHN E. STEELE, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Collective Action Complaint (Doc. #10) filed on November 8, 2012. Plaintiff filed a Memorandum of Law in Opposition (Doc. #18) on November 30, 2012, and with leave of Court, defendant filed a Reply (Doc. #26) on January 9, 2013.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), a Complaint must contain a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). This obligation "requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do."
In deciding a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the Court must accept all factual allegations in a complaint as true and take them in the light most favorable to plaintiff,
On October 5, 2012, plaintiff Javaris Smith (Smith or plaintiff) filed a Collective Action Complaint (Doc. #1) seeking relief under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for unpaid overtime wages. Plaintiff worked for Aaron's, Inc. (defendant) as a furniture delivery person, or "product technician", and was paid on an hourly basis with stop pay and bonuses. Defendant maintains a retail sales and lease ownership business of residential and office furniture, electronics, computers, and appliances. (Doc. #1, ¶¶ 2, 13, 20, 21.)
Plaintiff was a product technician from May 2008 to October 2011 in Lee County, Florida and was an employee within the meaning of the FLSA. (
Plaintiff alleges that defendant is a covered employer under the FLSA who employed plaintiff and other similarly situated product technicians in Lee County, Florida. Further alleged is that plaintiff, as an employee, was engaged in commerce and defendant is an enterprise with an annual gross volume of sales made or business done not less than $500,000. Plaintiff alleges that defendant repeatedly and willfully failed to compensate plaintiff and others similarly situated at a rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for hours in excess of the 40 hour workweek.
Defendant argues that plaintiff's claims fail to provide fair notice because no relevant or sufficient factual information is provided to support the legal conclusions made in the Complaint. Defendant further alleges that no factual basis is provided to support claims of willfulness or a class, and a failure to sufficiently allege the jurisdictional prerequisite of interstate commerce.
Under Title 29, United States Code, Section 206(a), every employer must pay each of its employees "who in any workweek is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or is employed in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce" wages at a certain hourly rate. 29 U.S.C. § 206(a).
Plaintiff alleges that other product technicians were also denied overtime compensation. To demonstrate that plaintiffs are "similarly situated", a opt-in plaintiff "need show only that their positions are similar, not identical, to the positions held by the putative class members."
In the Complaint, plaintiff cites Section 206(a) and states that defendant "was engaged in commerce" as defined therein, without specifying whether plaintiff was individually engaged or as an employee of an enterprise so engaged. (Doc. #1, ¶ 15.) Plaintiff goes on to quote from the definition of "Enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce" that defendant has employees "engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or that has employees handling, selling, or otherwise working on goods or materials that have been moved in or produced for commerce by any person" pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 203(s)(1)(A)(i), and that plaintiff "reasonably believes that during his employment" defendant had an annual gross volume of sales not less than $500,000, pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 203(s)(1)(A)(ii). (Doc. #1, ¶¶ 16, 17.) Based on these allegations, the Court will assume that plaintiff is claiming "enterprise coverage" under the FLSA.
For "enterprise coverage", plaintiff must have been "employed in an enterprise engaged in commerce
Accordingly, it is now
Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Collective Action Complaint (Doc. #10) is