ARMANDO HERNANDEZ JIMENEZ v. GREEN OLIVE INC AND MOHAMED NAJI SALEH (2024)

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

The plaintiff commenced this action individually and on behalf of others on November 30, 2023 against his former employers, Green Olive and its owner and operator Mohamed Naji Saleh. (ECF No. 1.) The plaintiff worked for the defendant food distribution company “from in or around August 2022 until in or around July 2023” as a “food preparer, cook, cleaner, and stocker, along with other miscellaneous duties for the [d]efendants.” (Id. ¶ 20.) The plaintiff alleges that the defendants violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) because they did not (1) pay him overtime wages, (2) provide spread-of-hours compensation, or (3) provide wage statements and notices. (Id. ¶¶ 44–63.)

The defendants did not answer or otherwise appear after being properly served. (See ECF Nos. 8, 10-1, 10-2, 11.) The Clerk of Court entered defaults as to all defendants on January 19, 2024. (ECF No. 12.) On February 1, 2024, the plaintiff filed a motion for default judgment. (ECF No. 14.) On April 3, 2024, the Court referred the motion to Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo. (ECF Order dated Apr. 3, 2024.) On July 28, 2024, Judge Marutollo issued a comprehensive Report and Recommendation, recommending that the plaintiff's motion be granted in part and denied in part. (ECF No. 22.)

Specifically, Judge Marutollo recommends that

(1) a default judgment should be entered jointly and severally against Defendants Green Olive Inc. and Mohamed Naji Saleh; and (2) Plaintiff should be awarded $46,224.62 in damages, made up of: (a) $18,720.00 for unpaid overtime wages; (b) $18,720.00 in liquidated damages; (c) post-judgment interest as set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a); (d) an award of attorneys’ fees totaling $7,852.50; and (e) an award of costs of $932.12.

(Id. at 1–2.) Additionally, Judge Marutollo recommends that the plaintiff's “spread-of-hours claim pursuant to the NYLL be denied” and that the plaintiff's “fourth and fifth causes of action be dismissed for lack of standing.” (Id.) No objections have been filed to the Report and Recommendation, and the time for doing so has passed.

A district court “may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate judge.” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). To accept those portions of the report and recommendation to which no timely objection has been made, “a district court need only satisfy itself that there is no clear error on the face of the record.” Jarvis v. N. Am. Globex Fund L.P., 823 F. Supp. 2d 161, 163 (E.D.N.Y. 2011) (quotation marks omitted).

I have carefully reviewed Judge Marutollo's thorough and well-reasoned Report and Recommendation and find no error. Accordingly, I adopt the Report and Recommendation in its entirety and order that the plaintiff's motion for default judgment is granted in part and denied in part. Default judgment is entered jointly and severally against the defendants. The plaintiff is awarded $46,224.62 in damages, made up of: (a) $18,720.00 for unpaid overtime wages; (b) $18,720.00 in liquidated damages; (c) post-judgment interest as set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1961(a); (d) an award of attorneys’ fees totaling $7,852.50; and (e) an award of costs of $932.12. The plaintiff's spread-of-hours claim pursuant to the NYLL is denied. Finally, the plaintiff's fourth and fifth causes of action are dismissed for lack of standing.

SO ORDERED.

ANN M. DONNELLY United States District Judge