Alvarez v. Gregory Hvac LLC

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedAugust 4, 2022
Docket8:19-cv-01826
StatusUnknown

This text of Alvarez v. Gregory Hvac LLC (Alvarez v. Gregory Hvac LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alvarez v. Gregory Hvac LLC, (M.D. Fla. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TAMPA DIVISION

FRANK ALVAREZ,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No: 8:19-cv-1826-CEH-JSS

GREGORY HVAC LLC and HEATH PERRY,

Defendants. ___________________________________/

O R D E R This cause comes before the Court upon Plaintiff’s Renewed Motion for Default Final Judgment (Doc. 48). Former HVAC installer Frank Alvarez moves for default judgment against Gregory HVAC and Heath Perry on his claims for unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will grant the Renewed Motion for Default Final Judgment. I. BACKGROUND Defendants Gregory HVAC LLC and Heath Perry allegedly employed Plaintiff Frank Alvarez as an HVAC installer from January of 2019 to May of 2019. Doc. 1 ¶9. In this role, Alvarez’s hourly rate was $12.50 per hour worked. Id. at ¶10. Alvarez alleges that, as an exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., he was entitled to compensation at the rate of one and one-half times his regular pay for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Id. at ¶11. According to Alvarez, he worked more than 40 hours per work week by completing pre-shift work off the clock, working during his lunch breaks, and responding to customers and other issues at the facility. Id. at ¶¶12–13. On average,

Alvarez worked approximately 49 hours per week. Id. at ¶16. However, Gregory HVAC and Perry—an “officer, director, manager, owner, and/or operator” of Gregory HVAC who had direct responsibility and control over employee compensation—failed to compensate him for any overtime work at a rate of one and one-half of his regularly hour rate. Id. at ¶¶6, 13, 16. Instead of paying Alvarez at this

rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per work week, Gregory HVAC and Perry allegedly paid him $500 per week, regardless of the number of hours that he worked. Id. at ¶14. Alvarez contends that Gregory HVAC and Perry failed to keep accurate time records of the number of hours that he worked, even though they knew,

or should have known, that he worked more than 40 hours per week. Id. at ¶15. When Alvarez requested payment for all the hours that he had worked, Perry allegedly threatened to report him to authorities for stealing supplies. Id. at ¶17. Alvarez asserts that Gregory HVAC and Perry reported him to authorities for stealing supplies, even though the claim was “patently false.” Id. at ¶18.

Alvarez sues Gregory HVAC and Perry. Id. at ¶¶19–40. In Count I, he sues Gregory HVAC for “Unpaid Overtime” under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Id. at ¶¶19–23. He alleges that Gregory HVAC’s failure to pay him overtime compensation in accordance with the FLSA was intentional and willful. Id. at ¶22. He brings a nearly identical claim for “Unpaid Overtime” against Perry in Count II. Id. at ¶¶24–29. In these claims, he requests “all legal and equitable relief allowed by law,” including judgment against Gregory HVAC and Perry, individually, “for overtime

compensation, liquidated damages, prejudgment interest, payment of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs,” equitable relief “declaring and mandating the cessation of . . . the unlawful pay policy,” and other such relief as the Court may deem just and proper.1 Id. at 7, 9. In Count III, Alvarez sues Gregory HVAC for retaliation under the FLSA. Id.

at ¶¶30–34. He alleges that he “was constructively discharged and falsely reported to authorities for stealing supplies as a direct result of, and in retaliation for,” reporting and opposing Gregory HVAC’s unlawful pay practices and for requesting proper payment under the FLSA for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per work week. Id.

at ¶31. He brings a nearly identical claim for retaliation under the FLSA against Perry in Count IV, except that he adds that Perry “falsely reported, or caused to be falsely reported,” that Alvarez had stolen supplies in retaliation for Alvarez engaging in protected activity. Id. at ¶¶35–40. In both claims, Alvarez demands “compensatory damages, lost wages and benefits, prejudgment interest, liquidated damages,

attorney’s fees and costs, and any other damages allowable by law.” Id. at 10–11.

1 Alvarez may not recover both liquidated damages and prejudgment interest under the FLSA, Joiner v. City of Macon, 814 F.2d 1537, 1539 (11th Cir. 1987), but he may request these remedies in the alternative, Torres v. Rock & River Food Inc., 244 F. Supp. 3d 1320, 1334 (S.D. Fla. 2016). An earlier order denied Alvarez’s request for default judgment and dismissed his complaint as a shotgun pleading. Doc. 40 at 14. Afterwards, Alvarez filed the Amended Complaint (Doc. 41), which is the operative pleading. Neither Defendant

Gregory HVAC nor Defendant Perry has appeared in this action. The Clerk has entered defaults against them. Doc. 44 at 1; Doc. 45 at 1. Alvarez now moves under Rule 55(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for default judgment “on Count I for unpaid overtime against . . . Gregory HVAC and Perry” in the amount of $2,868.75 in unpaid overtime compensation under the FLSA,

plus $2,868.75 in liquidated damages under the FLSA, plus $903 for court costs, plus $9,520 for reasonable attorney’s fees incurred to date, plus any post-judgment interest. Doc. 48 at 12–13. II. LEGAL STANDARD

Under Rule 55(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party may apply to the Court for a default judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b)(2). A defendant who defaults is deemed to have “admit[ted] the plaintiff’s well-pleaded allegations of fact,” Buchanan v. Bowman, 820 F.2d 359, 361 (11th Cir. 1987), but “[t]he defendant is not held to admit facts that are not well-pleaded or to admit conclusions of law,” Nishimatsu Constr. Co., Ltd. v. Houston Nat’l Bank, 515 F.2d 1200, 1206 (5th Cir. 1975)2;

see also GMAC Commercial Mortg. Corp. v. Maitland Hotel Assocs., 218 F. Supp. 2d 1355,

2 In Bonner v. City of Prichard, the Eleventh Circuit adopted as binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to October 1, 1981. 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc). 1359 (M.D. Fla. 2002) (explaining that allegations in a well-pleaded complaint are established as fact on entry of a default judgment, as long as there is a stated claim that allows for relief and jurisdiction is established). “Entry of default judgment is only

warranted when there is ‘a sufficient basis in the pleadings for the judgment entered.’” Surtain v. Hamlin Terrance Found., 789 F.3d 1239, 1245 (11th Cir. 2015) (quoting Nishimatsu Constr. Co., 515 F.2d at 1206)). III. ANALYSIS

Alvarez moves for default judgment “on Count I for unpaid overtime against Defendants, Gregory HVAC LLC and Heath Perry.” Doc.

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Alvarez v. Gregory Hvac LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alvarez-v-gregory-hvac-llc-flmd-2022.