Castillo v. Morales, Inc.

302 F.R.D. 480, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123409, 2014 WL 4377835
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 4, 2014
DocketNo. 2:12-CV-00650
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 302 F.R.D. 480 (Castillo v. Morales, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Castillo v. Morales, Inc., 302 F.R.D. 480, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123409, 2014 WL 4377835 (S.D. Ohio 2014).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

ALGENON L. MARBLEY, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Rhonda Sanchez’s1 Motion for Conditional Collective Action Certification and for Class Action Certification (Doc. 62). Plaintiff seeks conditional certification of this action as a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), as well as certification as a class action under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a) & 23(b)(3). (Doe. 62 at 1). Defendants oppose, on the ground that Plaintiff has not shown any common control among the various Defendants sufficient to establish that Plaintiff was similarly situated to other putative class members. (Doe. 71 at 3). For the reasons set forth herein, Plaintiffs Motion is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff brings this action for wage and hour violations under the FLSA and parallel Ohio laws, on behalf of herself and other employees who worked at certain “El Vaquero” Mexican restaurants in and around Columbus, Ohio, from July 18, 2009 until present. (Motion, Doc. 62 at 10). Plaintiff worked at El Vaquero’s Olentangy River Road location, owned and operated by Defendant Morales, Inc. (Id. at 13). Each location employs, according to Plaintiff, approximately 20 to 35 workers. (Id.).

Defendants are corporate entities who own the eight restaurant locations at issue in this case. Each location is advertised to the public solely as “El Vaquero,” shares the same website and social media account, uses the [483]*483same menu, adopts the same hours of operation, and contracts with the same law firm and accountant. (Id. at 14). Plaintiff further alleges that each location “engaged in the exact same unlawful pay practices and policies.” (Id.). Plaintiff also notes that members of two families — the Morales and the Quezada families — collectively own at least a super-majority interest in each Defendant corporation. (Id.).

Plaintiffs Amended Complaint asserts causes of action under the Ohio Constitution, art. II, § 34a (Counts I, III, IX), the FLSA (Counts II, IV, VI, VII), O.R.C. § 4113.15 (Count VIII), and the Ohio Minimum Wage Fail’ Standards Act, O.R.C. § 4111.01 et seq. (“OMWFSA”) (Count V). (Doc. 37, ¶¶ 109-144). Plaintiff alleges six wage and hour violations: (1) failure to pay overtime; (2) failure to inform employees that Defendants were claiming a “tip credit” in lieu of paying full minimum wage; (3) forcing employees to participate in tip pool arrangements; (4) forcing employees to participate in a tip pool in which the owners and managers also participated, with respect to Defendants Morales, Inc., Jalisco, Inc., and/or Cazadores Corp.; (5) forcing employees to work “off the clock” without pay, with respect to Defendant Morales, Inc.; and (6) failure timely to compensate employees as a result of the aforementioned violations.

Plaintiff asks the Court: (a) conditionally to certify three “collective action subclasses” under the FLSA; (b) to certify four “Ohio-law class action subclasses” under Fed. R.Civ.P. 23(a) & 23(b)(3); (c) to designate Plaintiffs counsel as the class counsel; and (d) to direct the Parties jointly to purpose procedures for notice. (Doe. 62 at 11).

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A. FLSA Conditional Certification

The FLSA allows an employee to maintain an action on behalf of herself “and other employees similarly situated.” 29 U.S.C. § 216(b). The Act establishes two requirements for a representative FLSA action against an employer: “(1) the plaintiffs must actually be ‘similarly situated,’ and (2) all plaintiffs must signal in writing their affirmative consent to participate in the action.” Snelling v. ATC Healthcare Services, Inc., No. 2:ll-CV-983, 2012 WL 6042839, at *2 (S.D.Ohio Dee. 4, 2012) (quoting Comer v. Walr-Mart Stores, Inc., 454 F.3d 544, 546 (6th Cir.2006)). The distinct “opt-in” structure of § 216(b) heightens the need for employees to “reeeiv[e] accurate and timely notice concerning the pendency of the collective action.” Hoffinanrir-La Roche Inc. v. Sperling, 493 U.S. 165, 170,110 S.Ct. 482, 107 L.Ed.2d 480 (1989). The statute therefore vests district courts with “discretion to implement 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) ... by facilitating notice to potential plaintiffs.” Id. at 169, 110 S.Ct. 482. The decision to conditionally certify a class, and thereby facilitate notice, is thus “within the discretion of the trial court.” Snelling, 2012 WL 6042839 at *2 (citing Hoff-mannr-La Roche, 493 U.S. at 169, 110 S.Ct. 482).

Accordingly, the Sixth Circuit has “implicitly upheld a two-step procedure for determining whether an FLSA case should proceed as a collective action.” Heibel v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Assoc., 2012 WL 4463771, at *2 (citations omitted). First, at the “initial notice” stage, before discovery has occurred, the Court “determine[s] whether to conditionally certify the collective class and whether notice of the lawsuit should be given to putative class members.” Id. (quotation omitted). The second stage of the FLSA collective action analysis occurs once discovery is complete, when “the defendant may file a motion to decertify the class if appropriate to do so based on the individualized nature of the plaintiffs claims.” Heibel, 2012 WL 4463771 at *2 (quotation omitted).

Whether Plaintiffs suit may proceed as a collective action pursuant to FLSA at this stage, then, depends on a showing that potential class members are “similarly situated.” Comer, 454 F.3d at 546. The FLSA does not explicitly define the term “similarly situated,” and neither has the Sixth Circuit. Wade v. Werner Trucking Co., 2012 WL 5378311, at *4 (S.D.Ohio Oct. 31, 2012) (citing O’Brien v. Ed Donnelly Enters., Inc., 575 F.3d 567, 584 (6th Cir. 2009)). Although the Sixth Circuit has declined to “create comprehensive criteria for informing the similarly situated analysis,” it has held that FLSA plaintiffs may proceed [484]*484collectively in cases whei’e “their claims [are] unified by common theories of defendants’ statutory violations, even if the proofs of these theories are inevitably individualized and distinct.” O’Brien, 575 F.3d at 585. “Thus, similarly situated class members under [the] FLSA are those whose causes of action accrued in approximately the same manner as those of the named plaintiffs.” Lems v. Huntington Nat’l Bank, 789 F.Supp.2d 863, 868 (S.D.Ohio 2011).

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302 F.R.D. 480, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123409, 2014 WL 4377835, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/castillo-v-morales-inc-ohsd-2014.