Tue, 03/09/2021
MSE filed a lawsuit on behalf of employees of the New York City Department of Homeless Services after the employees were not paid for all the work that the City “suffered or permitted” them to work outside of their eight-hour shifts. The plaintiffs in this lawsuit are current and former Peace Officers (Special Officers) and Supervising Special Officers of the New York City Department of Homeless Services who frequently worked before and after their scheduled shifts as well as during their unpaid meal breaks and were not paid properly for all of this time.
The lawsuit was filed in 2016, and both the City of New York and MSE filed for summary judgement in August 2020.
Late last week, Judge Alison J. Nathan denied summary judgement to both parties, saying “there remained material disputes of fact for the claims of unpaid overtime, miscalculation of the rate of overtime pay and miscalculation of compensatory time.” The case will now go to trial in September.
In the Law360 article covering this new decision, MSE partner and the plaintiffs’ attorney David Ricksecker says, “Of course we hoped to win on summary judgment, but we think that this order, the very fact that it demonstrates there’s no dispute that this work is actually being performed and it’s not being paid, that the only thing really left to prove at trial is employer knowledge,” Ricksecker told Law360 on Friday. “I’m confident we’ll be able to do that.”
See the Law360 article covering this decision here: https://www.law360.com/articles/1361879