Leslie Ramirez v. Exclusive Management Solution Group, Inc., et al.

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 2, 2025
Docket1:24-cv-01786
StatusUnknown

This text of Leslie Ramirez v. Exclusive Management Solution Group, Inc., et al. (Leslie Ramirez v. Exclusive Management Solution Group, Inc., et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leslie Ramirez v. Exclusive Management Solution Group, Inc., et al., (S.D.N.Y. 2025).

Opinion

SDNY DOCUMENT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ELECTRONICALLY FILED SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DOC #0 DATE FILED:_12/2/2025 LESLIE RAMIREZ, □□□ Plaintiff, -against- 24-CV-01786 (MMG) EXCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION OPINION & ORDER GROUP, INC., et al., Defendants.

MARGARET M. GARNETT, United States District Judge: Plaintiff Leslie Ramirez brings this action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York labor laws (“NYLL”). Defendants are Plaintiff's former employers: Exclusive Management Solution Group, Inc. (““EMSG’”’), Eco. Miss Bubble, Inc. (“Miss Bubble”), 171st & St. Nicholas Laundromat Inc. (“Laundromat Inc.”), and Dmitriy Berezovsky. Before the Court is Defendants’ motion to dismiss and supplemental motion to dismiss (together, the “Motion’”) under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). For the following reasons, the Motion is DENIED. BACKGROUND I RELEVANT FACTS! A. The Laundromats and Their Role in Interstate Commerce Berezovsky owns EMSG, and EMSG owns 28 laundromats throughout New York City. FAC 9 15; Dkt. No. 19-1. These laundromats have detergents, fabric softeners, washing

! The following facts are taken from the first amended complaint (referred to as the “Amended Complaint” in text and “FAC” in citations). See Dkt. No. 19. The Court accepts as true all well-pleaded facts for purposes of resolving the motion to dismiss. The Court shall refer to the parties’ memoranda of law in support of and opposition to the motion to dismiss as follows: Dkt. No. 13 (“Mot.”); Dkt. No. 21 (“Supp. Mot.) Dkt. No. 25 (“Opp.”’); and Dkt. No. 26 (“Reply”).

machines, and dryers produced and imported from outside New York state. Jd. 8. Based on plaintiff's first-hand observation, a given laundromat has at least one hundred customers a day who spend at least $10 but often more during every visit. Jd. B. The Relationship Among the Defendants Defendants’ 28 laundromats include one laundromat at 1225 St. Nicholas Avenue (the “St. Nicholas Avenue Laundromat’) and another at 1492 5th Avenue (the “Fifth Avenue Laundromat’). Laundromat Inc. is “located at” at the St. Nicholas Avenue Laundromat. Jd. 15, 18. Miss Bubble is “located at” and EMSG is headquartered at the Fifth Avenue Laundromat. Jd. {| 16-17. The 28 laundromats are closely related. They provide the same services at the same cost. Dkt. No. 19-2. They share a phone number. Dkt. No. 19-3. Customers may schedule a laundry pick up from any laundromat. All the laundromats are listed and advertised on Miss Bubble’s website. Dkt. No. 19-1. The website states the laundromats comprise part of “[t]he most trusted chain in Manhattan” and “[w]herever you are, New York’s best laundry service is just a tap away.” Dkt. No. 19-1 at 2. Many pages on the website purportedly include text reading: “Copyright @ 2023 EMSG Inc.” See, e.g., Dkt. No. 19-2 at 10. Laundromat employees were transferred seamlessly between the laundromats based on company needs. FAC 4 13. And the laundromats paid employees using the same payroll system. Jd. C. Plaintiff's Duties and Earnings Plaintiff worked for Defendants from approximately July 2021 until May 14, 2023. FAC 4 23. Plaintiff worked primarily at the St. Nicholas Avenue Laundromat but would also periodically work at the Fifth Avenue Laundromat. Jd. { 13. Her general duties split 80-20 into two buckets. Jd. § 25. 80% of her duties involved manual tasks. Jd. These included “separating clothing, removing tags from clothing, packing up laundry, and assisting customers.” Jd. She

performed these manual tasks starting “between 8:00 am and 9:00 am and [ending] anytime between around 3:30 pm and 8:00 pm .. . typically” five days a week. Jd. § 26. She alleges this set of duties often involved overtime beyond 40 hours a week. Jd. Crucial to her complaint, Plaintiff contends that she was unable to simply “drop” her task when her shift ended. Jd. § 27. Often at Berezovsky’s direction, she would “daily” remain at work for an additional 30 minutes or more after her shift ended to complete whatever task she had been working on when her shift ended. Jd. J] 27-28. She contends that Defendant did not compensate her for the additional time she spent working at the end of every shift. Jd. | 28. “For example, Defendants recorded Plaintiff as having worked 44 hours for the pay period ending 11/13/22, 47.5 hours for the one ending 11/20/22, and 43.5 hours for the one ending 11/27/22,” but those records “understated the actual manual labor performed by Plaintiff’ by omitting the additional time she worked every shift. Id. J] 26-27. The latter 20% of Plaintiffs duties involved “back-office tasks” that Plaintiff performed from home. Jd. § 25. Plaintiff contends that Defendants never compensated her for the time she spent performing these tasks. Jd. J 29. D. Defendants’ Failure to Provide Wage Notices and Wages Statements and the Resulting Injury Plaintiff alleges that “Defendants knowingly and willfully operated their business with a policy of not providing wage notices to Plaintiff at the beginning of her employment with Defendants.” Jd. § 34. She also alleges that Defendants provided her inaccurate wage statements that did “not reflect the actual number of hours worked.” Jd. § 35. Defendants’ actions harmed Plaintiff, she alleges, because it deprived her of “the ability to contest the pay provided by Defendants, allowed Defendants to hide their wrong-doing, and necessitated the current litigation to vindicate Plaintiffs rights.” Jd. 37. Plaintiff contends that the missing wage notices and

inaccurate wage statements “continue|]| to result in delayed payment of all proper wages owed to Plaintiff,” causing “Plaintiff to struggle to pay bills and other debts.” Jd. 39. Plaintiff also alleges that understating her hours reduced her wages reported on her W-2, thereby reducing “Plaintiffs entitlement to social security benefits.” Jd. ¥ 44. E. Tax Statements Plaintiff was paid through a combination of checks and cash. Jd. § 30. For tax purposes, Defendants provided Plaintiff a Form 1099 that Defendants filed with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Jd. 931. Plaintiff alleges that the Form 1099 misrepresented her earnings because it “only included compensation that was paid through checks, not the money paid in cash.” Id. Il. PROCEDURAL HISTORY Plaintiff commenced this lawsuit on March 8, 2024. Dkt. No. 1. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on July 9, 2024. Dkt. No. 12. Plaintiff then filed the First Amended Complaint. Dkt. No. 19.2 Defendants responded with a supplemental motion to dismiss. Dkt. No. 21.

* The Court notes factual discrepancies between the original and amended complaint concerning Plaintiff's hours. For example, the original complaint stated, “Plaintiff was scheduled to work Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. . . . [but] Plaintiff was regularly required to work past her scheduled shifts until anywhere between 8:00 p.m. [and] 10:00 p.m.” Compl. J 25. It also stated that “Plaintiff would work for a total of fifty (50) to sixty (60) hours in a week.” Jd. The First Amended Complaint paints a different picture. It states, “Plaintiffs manual work at the two laundromats typically began between 8:00 am and 9:00 am and ended anytime between around 3:30 pm and 8:00 pm. . . for typically five (5) days a week.”” FAC § 26. Many courts in this circuit do not consider contradictory facts at the motion to dismiss stage. Operadora Kau-Kan v. Prodigy Network, LLC, 20-CV-02770 (ALC), 2021 WL 4482212, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2021). Others will hold a plaintiff to his or her allegations in the first complaint, especially where new allegations are both contradictory and tailored to address an argument in a motion to dismiss. See id. at *3; Kant v. Columbia Univ., No. 08-CV-07476 (PGG), 2010 WL 807442, at *7—*8 (S.DN-Y.

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Leslie Ramirez v. Exclusive Management Solution Group, Inc., et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leslie-ramirez-v-exclusive-management-solution-group-inc-et-al-nysd-2025.