Plaintiffs Allege Plaza Sweets Canceled Health Insurance without Notification, Failed to Pay Overtime

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Eight plaintiffs are behind a proposed class action in which they allege they worked “grueling hours under dangerous conditions” to meet “unrealistic production quotas” for Mamaroneck- and Brooklyn Heights, New York-based defendants Plaza Sweets, Inc., Plaza Sweets Holdings, Inc., Zephyr Management LLC and one individual—without being paid proper overtime wages. The lawsuit, filed in New York, goes on to charge the plaintiffs and members of the proposed class worked for improper pay in a production plant run by the bakery companies that “lacked heat, hot water, and adequate cleaning,” notwithstanding an alleged absence of safety equipment.

On top of the allegations of unpaid overtime is the plaintiffs’ claim that the defendants failed to inform them their group medical insurance plan had been canceled because of Plaza Sweets’ non-payment.

“As a result, [the plaintiffs] unwittingly incurred medical bills and personal liability for any care they sought, even as [the defendants] continued to fraudulently reduce their wages through payroll deductions that were falsely attributed to health insurance benefits,” the complaint charges.

This morass of alleged anti-worker conduct is coupled with the defendants’ supposed unsuccessful attempts to sell their business, which, the complaint says, allegedly resulted in the delayed payment of the plaintiffs’ wages. As the defendants quickly moved to liquidate their assets, the lawsuit goes on, they allegedly terminated nearly all of their employees without paying them for accrued vacation time.

The complaint alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), New York Labor Law, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).