CPS/CPSS I/CPSS II OVERTIME (FLSA) LAWSUIT Update
BREAKING NEWS:
SSEU Local 371 is very pleased to announce that the overtime lawsuit filed on June 27, 2023, on behalf of 2,248 CPS, CPSS I and CPSS II employed by the Administration for Children’s Services – Albert-Ann Benjamin, et al v. City of New York – has now reached a tentative settlement! This case involves the following claims under the federal overtime law, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
- Uncompensated Pre-Shift, Post-Shift and Meal Period Work in excess of 40 hours perweek
- Regular Rate and Straight Time Overtime Claims based on whether the City paid theproper overtime rate of one and half-times a worker’s regular rate of pay (includingdifferentials) for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek
- Delayed Payment Claim due to the City’s failure to timely make overtime payments
The Benjamin case involves the same claims that were successfully litigated in the prior cases on behalf of CPSS & CPSS Workers after 8 1/2 years of hard-fought litigation – Keisha Foster, et al v. City of New York, which settled in December 2021, and Jacqueline Williams, et al v. City of New York, which settled in November 2022.
With the assistance of the Settlement Team (Albert-Ann Benjamin, Teresa Castelli and Yoshica Smalls), Plaintiffs’ Counsel (Spivak Lipton LLP and McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP) just reached a settlement with the City of New York in the amount of $13,739,998 million based on a similar formula applied in the Foster and Williams case settlements.
The settlement is tentative in the sense that all plaintiffs will be individually notified of the settlement terms by a letter sent by the law firms in the next two weeks. Plaintiffs should wait to receive their letter before calling the law firms with any questions as the letters will explain in great detail the settlement terms and how the settlement money is being allocated. After all plaintiffs are notified of the settlement, the settlement then needs to be approved by the Court and the City will have 90 days from the date of Court approval to pay the settlement money. We will publicize once the Court has approved the settlement and there is a due date for payment of the settlement money (which likely won’t be until early 2025).
Individual settlement amounts will vary based on length of active employment during the recovery period (i.e., excluding any leaves of absence), the date the plaintiff joined the case by submitting a consent form and whether a plaintiff received a settlement award in the Foster and/or Williams case. Note that the law only allows plaintiffs to recover damages for a maximum of three years prior to the date that a plaintiff’s consent form was filed in Court regardless of their overall length of employment, with the earliest recovery in this case beginning on June 27, 2020. This will all be explained in each individual plaintiff’s settlement letter.
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE ONLY A PLAINTIFF IN THIS CASE IF YOU SIGNED A CONSENT FORM AND RECEIVED A LETTER FROM THE LAW FIRMS, CONFIRMING THAT YOU ARE A PLAINTIFF.
If you are a plaintiff in the case, and if you have any questions after you receive your settlement letter
(by September 1st), you should directly contact the law firms handling the case:
Spivak Lipton LLP: 212.765.2100 ext. 26 or via email at nlandig@spivaklipton.com
McGillivary Steele Elkin: 202.833.8855 or via email at info@mselaborlaw.com
