Opinion
20-CV-4380 (KMK)(PED)
01-05-2021
Jorge Cruz, Carlos Cruz, William Ordonez, and Segundo Ordonez, on behalf of themselves and all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Great Construction Group Corp., Great Construction Partners Corp., Everwood Construction Inc., Jiri Osicka, and Kamil Svrcek, Defendants.
ORDER
BEFORE KENNETH M. KARAS., U.S.D.J.
THIS MATTER having been brought before the Court upon motion of the law firm of Samuel & Stein, attorneys for plaintiffs Jorge Cruz, Carlos Cruz, William Ordonez, and Segundo Ordonez, seeking to conditionally certify a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action and authorize notice to be issued to all persons similarly situated and related relief, and the defendants having consented to the motion, and for other good cause, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion by counsel for plaintiffs Jorge Cruz, Carlos Cruz, William Ordonez, and Segundo Ordonez is hereby granted; and it is FURTHER ORDERED that
1. The collective action notice entitled "NOTICE OF LAWSUIT AND OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN," submitted as Exhibit A attached to plaintiffs' letter of December 21, 2020, and the opt-in form entitled "CONSENT TO JOIN COLLECTIVE ACTION AND BECOME A PARTY PLAINTIFF," submitted as Exhibit B attached to plaintiffs letter of December 21, 2020, are hereby approved for mailing to potential collective action opt-in plaintiffs in English and Spanish and any other language spoken by a significant number of class members;
2. The collective class of potential plaintiffs in this matter shall consist of all current and former construction workers, including carpenters and laborers, who were employed by Great Construction Group Corp., Great Construction Partners Corp., and Everwood Construction Inc. at at any time on or after June 8, 2017, to the date of this Order;
3. Within twenty days of this Order, defendants shall provide to plaintiffs counsel, in a spreadsheet or other machine-readable form, the full names and last-known addresses of all potential plaintiffs who who fit within the collective class defined in Paragraph 2, above, and indicate the native languages (if known) of any individuals for whom English is not their native language;
4. For any individuals identified in Paragraph 3 for whom defendants lack valid addresses, defendants shall instead supply to plaintiffs' counsel telephone numbers and/or email addresses, to the extent defendants possess this information
5. Plaintiffs counsel shall keep all information supplied pursuant to paragraph 4 strictly confidential, and shall use the information solely for the purpose of locating potential opt-in plaintiffs for the purpose of notifying them of the pendancy of this action;
6. Plaintiffs shall mail the notice of collective action and opt-in form, in English and any other native language, to all potential collective action opt-in plaintiffs no later than ten days following defendants disclosure of their names and addresses. The notice shall be dated the exact date of the initial mailing and the deadline date set forth in the notice shall be the date exactly sixty days thereafter;
7. If any notice to any potential collective action opt-in plaintiff is returned as undeliverable, plaintiff's counsel is permitted to mail the notice to any such persons again at any other address they may determine is appropriate. However, this shall not extend the sixty day opt-in deadline from the date of the initial mailing;
8. On the date the notices are mailed, the English and other language versions of the collective action notice and opt-in form shall be conspicuously posted at defendants' business, including any work sites at which defendants are authorized to post materials, in a place accessible to employees, and maintaned during the notice period, and defendants shall provide photographic confirmation of same to plaintiffs' counsel;
9. Plaintiffs counsel is authorized to send a reminder mailing and/or email to all unresponsive collective action members halfway through the notice period;
10. Except as expressly set forth in paragraphs 6, 7 and 9, Plaintiffs counsel shall not make any other effort to initiate contact with any of the individuals identified pursuant to paragraph 3; AND
11. All potential collective action plaintiffs must opt-in no later than sixty days following the date of the initial mailing of the collective action notice by returning the executed form entitled "CONSENT TO JOIN COLLECTIVE ACTION AND BECOME A PARTY PLAINTIFF" in sufficient time for it to be filed with the Court no later than sixty days from the date of the initial mailing. Plaintiffs counsel shall thereupon promptly file such executed consents with the Court.
SO ORDERED.