New York Law Firm Samuel & Stein Hit with Employee’s Lawsuit Over Allegedly Unpaid Overtime

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The Law Office of Samuel & Stein has failed to pay certain non-exempt workers proper overtime wages for hours worked in excess of 40 each week, a proposed collective action claims.

The plaintiff, who has worked for the New York-based wage and hour, personal injury and debt collection firm since May 2016, claims that although she’s regularly put in 65 hours per week throughout her employment, she has received wages months late—or not at all—for several pay periods during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the suit, Samuel & Stein has “knowingly, willfully, and maliciously” refused to pay the plaintiff and other non-exempt office workers one-and-a-half times their regular rate for overtime hours in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law.

Per the complaint, the plaintiff’s primary duties include taking clients’ initial statements, collecting documents, entering new case files, answering phones, making appointments, translating for Spanish-speaking clients and promoting the defendants’ business to potential Spanish-speaking clients. 

Before or around September 2020, the plaintiff complained about not being paid overtime for her work in excess of 40 hours per week, including for time spent on weekends passing out flyers in a South Bronx supermarket to generate new business during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lawsuit claims. In response to her complaints, one of the individual defendants emailed the plaintiff to tell her she should not work more than 40 hours per week, the suit says.

The plaintiff claims that as of the date her lawsuit was filed, the last paycheck she received was for the period between September 19 to October 2, 2020. According to the suit, she has yet to be paid for the two pay periods after that.

Moreover, the plaintiff was not paid for the pay period spanning July 10 to July 24, 2020 until September 24, 2020 and received her wages for a two-week period in August in mid-October, the case alleges. Per the complaint, the plaintiff only received the two late paychecks after complaining about withheld pay.

The plaintiff looks to represent all non-exempt office workers employed by Samuel & Stein within the past three years and through entry of judgment in this case who were not paid overtime at one-and-a-half times their regular rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 each week.

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