Filed: Dec. 02, 2016
Latest Update: Dec. 02, 2016
Summary: ORDER STEVEN I. LOCKE , Magistrate Judge . Presently before the Court in this wage and hour action brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq., and New York Labor Law ("NYLL"), N.Y. Lab. Law 190 et seq., is the parties' joint application seeking approval of a Revised Settlement Agreement and Release (the "Revised Settlement Agreement"). See Docket Entry ("DE") [44]. For the reasons set forth herein, the parties' joint application is gra
Summary: ORDER STEVEN I. LOCKE , Magistrate Judge . Presently before the Court in this wage and hour action brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq., and New York Labor Law ("NYLL"), N.Y. Lab. Law 190 et seq., is the parties' joint application seeking approval of a Revised Settlement Agreement and Release (the "Revised Settlement Agreement"). See Docket Entry ("DE") [44]. For the reasons set forth herein, the parties' joint application is gran..
More
ORDER
STEVEN I. LOCKE, Magistrate Judge.
Presently before the Court in this wage and hour action brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and New York Labor Law ("NYLL"), N.Y. Lab. Law § 190 et seq., is the parties' joint application seeking approval of a Revised Settlement Agreement and Release (the "Revised Settlement Agreement"). See Docket Entry ("DE") [44]. For the reasons set forth herein, the parties' joint application is granted.1
On April 21, 2016, Plaintiffs Rubilia Velazquez and Amanda Zapata (together, "Plaintiffs") and Defendants Luz Bedoya and Children's Planet, Inc. (together, "Defendants") participated in a Court-supervised settlement conference, but were unable to resolve this matter at that time. See DE [36]. On June 16, 2016, Plaintiffs submitted a Notice of Settlement, advising the Court that the parties had reached a settlement in principle, and, on August 29, 2016, the parties submitted a joint application seeking approval of a proposed settlement agreement. See DE [38], [40]. After reviewing the proposed agreement, the Court denied the joint application without prejudice concluding that the agreement's non-solicitation and non-disparagement provisions ran counter to the unique policy concerns underlying the FLSA. See DE [41]. In response to the Court's decision, on October 28, 2016, the parties submitted the Revised Settlement Agreement now pending.
The Court has reviewed the Revised Settlement Agreement and the previous submissions in support of the settlement, which included "Letter Re Fairness of Settlement," DE [40], and "Damages Chart," DE [40-2]. Accordingly, in light of the redrafted terms striking the non-disparagement and non-solicitation provisions and having also presided at the settlement conference, the Court finds that the Revised Settlement Agreement is fair and reasonable. See Cheeks v. Freeport Pancake House, Inc., 796 F.3d 199 (2d Cir. 2015); Wolinsky v. Scholastic Inc., 900 F.Supp.2d 332, 335 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (requiring that a district court scrutinize an FLSA settlement agreement to determine that it is fair and reasonable).
Therefore, the motion is granted, and the Settlement Agreement is approved as between Plaintiff and the Settling Defendants.
SO ORDERED.
