STERLING JOHNSON, Jr., District Judge.
Plaintiff Jennifer Neil ("Plaintiff") brings this action against Sidney W. Barbanel Consulting Engineer, LLC and the estate of Sidney W. Barbanel (Defendants") asserting,
For the reasons stated herein, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is DENIED.
Plaintiff alleges the following facts, taken as true at the motion to dismiss stage. Ms. Neil was hired by Defendants to provide general housework and personal home health care and assistance for Sidney Barbanel from June 2009 to July 7, 2012. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 21-25). She was involved in walking, bathing, dressing, meal preparation, as well as cleaning, shopping, and running errands for Mr. Barbanel. (
On a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the Court may dismiss a complaint "when `it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of [her] claims which would entitle [her] to relief.'"
The Complaint "does not need detailed factual allegations" but must "provide the grounds of . . . entitlement to relief" with "more than labels and conclusions."
Defendants argue that Plaintiff's claims are barred by the FLSA's two-year statute of limitations. (Defs.' Motion at 7.) Defendants also claim that Plaintiff has failed to properly plead willfulness, which would have extended the statute of limitations to three years. (Defs.' Motion at 8-9.)
FLSA claims accrue with each payday "following the work period when services are rendered."
Plaintiff has claimed that Defendants' failure to pay her minimum wage or overtime was intentional and willful. (Am. Compl. ¶ 36.) At this stage of litigation, Plaintiff's general assertion of willfulness satisfies the requirements of pleading a willful violation of the FLSA, so as to invoke the three-year statute of limitations.
Accordingly, Defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint as time barred is denied. However, because Plaintiff's original complaint was filed on August 15, 2012, she cannot claim wages for work done prior to August 15, 2009 (more than three years before her complaint was filed). Plaintiff's claim is, therefore, limited to pay allegedly owed after August 15, 2009.
FLSA applies only to employees, not to independent contractors. To determine whether a plaintiff is an employee for FLSA purposes, courts examine the "economic reality" of a working relationship.
Defendants argue that Plaintiff fails to allege specific facts to satisfy the economic reality test, and that the amended complaint consists only of "conclusory statements and threadbare recitals of the cause of actions elements." (Defs.' Motion at 4.) Specifically, Defendants argue that Plaintiff failed to allege the "degree of formal control exercised" over the Plaintiff. (Defs.' Reply at 3.)
In this case, Plaintiff's allegations are sufficient to state a plausible claim that Plaintiff was an employee of Defendants. Plaintiff plead that she was hired by Defendant Barbanel Consulting to provide "personal home health care and assistance to Defendant Barbanel." (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 20-24.) Defendants exercised a fair degree of control of Plaintiff, including setting a schedule of hours, hourly pay, and assignments. (
Taken as a whole, Plaintiff's allegations "raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence" that Defendants were an "employer" of Plaintiff within the meaning of the FLSA.
The FLSA required the Defendants to pay Plaintiff a minimum hourly wage of $7.25 at all relevant times. 29 U.S.C. § 206(a)(1). Plaintiff alleges that she worked from 7:00pm on Friday through 9:00am on Monday, with her work week often totaling 62 hour weeks. (Am. Compl. ¶ 32.) She claims to have been paid a flat rate of $200, at a rate of $3.25 an hour. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 32, 33.) Although, Plaintiff did not include the total of unpaid wages, her salary and hours are enough to infer a plausible violation of minimum wage.
Under the FLSA, "no employer shall employ any of his employees . . . for a workweek longer than forty hours unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed." 29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). In an action to recover unpaid overtime wages under FLSA, a plaintiff must show that: "(1) he was an employee who was eligible for overtime ( [i.e.,] not exempt from the Act's overtime pay requirements); and (2) that he actually worked overtime hours for which he was not compensated."
Defendants claim that the Plaintiff failed to adequately plead the approximate number of the hours that would give Defendants notice of her claim. Defendants state that her allegations are imprecise, "because it is unclear whether she worked shifts of 24 hours, 48 hours, or potentially shifts of 72 hours or greater." (Defs.' Reply at 4.)
The Second Circuit has specifically recognized that, although a plaintiff must plead hours worked in excess of 40 in a given work week, as well as some uncompensated time in excess of the 40 hours, with a certain degree of specificity, a plaintiff is not required to keep perfect time records or to plead its hours worked with "mathematical precision."
Because Plaintiff alleges to have worked up to 62 hours a week, without any time off, each and every week, she has established that she allegedly worked in excess of the forty hour workweek, in violation of FLSA § 207(a)(1).
The Court has reviewed the remaining claims and finds that they are without merit.
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is DENIED. The parties shall proceed to discovery.
SO ORDERED.