Scope Of Class And Collective Action Members:

The lawsuit is brought on behalf of all individuals whom Defendants employ or have employed as parking coordinators or drivers at any time since March 24, 2009.

Claims in the lawsuit:

The lawsuit alleges the following causes of action on behalf of the class and collective action members.

1. Failure to pay overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). These claims are based on the allegations in the Complaint that Defendants failed to pay the parking coordinators and drivers overtime premium pay for each hour worked above forty in a week.
2. Recordkeeping violations under the NYLL. This claim alleges that Defendants failed to provide the class action members with a Notice and Acknowledgement of Pay Rate and Payday, as required by NYLL § 195. The Complaint therefore seeks to recover for the class members a civil penalty of $50.00 for each workweek that this violation occurred, with a maximum of $2,500.00 per class member.

Case Status:

• On September 27, 2017, the parties reached a settlement in principle to resolve the claims for $150,000.
• On May 31, 2018, the Court entered an Order scheduling a hearing for June 29 at 2:30 p.m. to determine the fairness of the settlement.
• On June 29, 2018, the Court granted preliminary approval of the settlement and authorized a notice to be mailed to everyone who joined the case.
• On Friday, November 9, the Court-approved notice was mailed to everyone who elected to join (i.e, “opt-in”) to the case.
• On February 21, 2019, the Court issued its Order granting final approval of the settlement. Under this Order, the first payments will go out on April 8, 2019 and then every subsequent 30 days. Below is a schedule listing when those payments will be made and the amounts. Because not everyone participated in the settlement, those who submitted timely claim forms are receiving more than what was listed on the form you received in the mail. Because of the amount to be allocated per month and the various amounts owed to the class members, some payments are spread out over more than one month. The amounts listed on the chart are the gross amount. Meaning, taxes and deductions will be taken from these amounts.
• Pursuant to the Court’s Order, the first batch of checks were to be mailed on April 8, 2019.
• Around April 8, 2019, Defendants advised they lack the funds to make the first payment so NO checks will be issued –  not to any plaintiffs and not to the lawyers.
• The Court has issued a judgment against the Defendants, allowing us to pursue and seize Defendants’ assets. We are actively engaged in that. This process unfortunately takes time.
• On February 25, 2021, we issued post-judgment discovery upon the company and Michael Smith.
• On March 4, 2021, the Clerk of the US District Court for the District of New York issued an Abstract of Judgment for $150,000.
• On April 9, 2021,  Michael Smith, owner of Griffin Security, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York, Case No. 21-22203.
• On April 13, 2021, the Court issued an Order officially “staying” this case. Under this order, the law prevents this firm from doing anything to further litigate the case. All issues must now be resolved through the bankruptcy court.
• In the bankruptcy proceeding, the deadline to file a proof of claim in the bankruptcy court was July 27, 2021. This firm filed a proof of claim on behalf of each individual who has opted-in to this matter.
• On December 16, the Court granted Mr. Smith’s request to convert his bankruptcy proceeding from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7. This generally means he is going to liquidate all of his assets to pay his creditors.
• A meeting of the creditors is now scheduled for February 2, 2022 at 9:30. If you want to participate, call the Trustee: Mark Tulis at 914.747.4400

To date, no checks have been issued – not to any plaintiffs and not to the lawyers. We appreciate your patience. We know you have waited a long time to get paid. We wont you to get paid ASAP.*This update is current as of December 29, 2021