Ex-Surgical Technician Claims Gramercy Surgery Center Denied Proper Overtime Pay

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Gramercy Surgery Center faces a proposed collective action in which a former surgical technician says she and similarly situated workers were denied proper overtime wages.

The plaintiff, who worked at the defendants’ Flushing, New York facility between February and September 2020, claims she was paid a fixed annual salary of between $70,000 and $77,000 for 30 to 45 hours of work per week. According to the suit, the plaintiff’s weekly pay never varied even when she was required to stay late or work an extra day beyond her schedule.

As the suit tells it, the plaintiff was provided with neither breaks nor meal periods “of any kind,” much less notice regarding her rate of pay, employer’s regular pay day, and rights with regard to overtime and wages under federal and state law.

The case claims it was Gramercy’s policy and practice to require employees such as the plaintiff to work more than 40 hours per week without appropriate time-and-a-half overtime compensation as mandated by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL).

According to the suit, the defendants “willfully disregarded” and evaded statutory recordkeeping requirements by failing to maintain complete timesheets and payroll records.

This practice, as well as the medical center’s alleged failure to post notices in the workplace regarding workers’ rights under the FLSA and NYLL, was deliberately done in order to disguise the number of hours worked by employees and avoid paying them properly for every hour worked, the lawsuit avers.

“Defendants engaged in their unlawful conduct pursuant to a corporate policy of minimizing labor costs and denying employees compensation by knowingly violating the FLSA and NYLL,” the complaint scathes. “Defendants’ unlawful conduct was intentional, willful, in bad faith, and caused significant damages to [the plaintiff] (and all similarly situated employees).”

The plaintiff looks to represent anyone who worked for the defendants within the past three years.

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