Palmer v. Amazon
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Opinion
20-3989-cv Palmer v. Amazon
In the United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit
August Term, 2020 No. 20-3989-cv
DERRICK PALMER, KENDIA MESIDOR, BENITA ROUSE, ALEXANDER ROUSE, BARBARA CHANDLER, LUIS PELLOT-CHANDLER, DEASAHNI BERNARD, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
AMAZON.COM, INC., AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC, Defendants-Appellees.
On Appeal from a Judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
ARGUED: MAY 19, 2021 DECIDED: OCTOBER 18, 2022
Before: JACOBS, CHIN, and NARDINI, Circuit Judges.
This case involves claims brought by workers at Amazon’s JFK8 fulfillment center and members of the workers’ households in connection with the COVID-19 policies, practices, and procedures at JFK8. In their amended complaint Plaintiffs allege causes of action for public nuisance, breach of the duty to protect the health and safety of employees under New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) § 200, violation of NYLL § 191 for failure to pay, on time and in full, COVID-19 sick leave under New York’s COVID-19 sick leave law, and injunctive relief against future violations of NYLL § 191. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brian M. Cogan, Judge) dismissed Plaintiffs’ amended complaint, relying on the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, as well as alternative grounds, to dispose of the public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims, and dismissing Plaintiffs’ § 191 claim for failure to state a claim for relief based on COVID-19 sick leave payments not falling within § 191’s definition of “wages.” Plaintiffs now appeal. First, we reject Amazon’s contention that we should partially dismiss this appeal as moot. Second, we agree with Plaintiffs that the district court wrongly applied the primary jurisdiction doctrine to their public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims. Ultimately, however, only their § 200 claim survives. Accordingly, we hold: (1) Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims are not moot; (2) the doctrine of primary jurisdiction does not apply to Plaintiffs’ public nuisance or NYLL § 200 claims; (3) Plaintiffs fail to state a claim for public nuisance under New York law because they do not allege a special injury; (4) Section 11 of the New York Workers’ Compensation Law does not preclude injunctive relief under NYLL § 200; and (5) COVID-19 sick leave payments are not “wages” under NYLL § 191. We therefore AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 191 claims; and we VACATE the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 200 claim and REMAND to the district court for further proceedings on that claim.
Judge Chin concurs in part and dissents in part in a separate opinion.
2 KARLA GILBRIDE, PUBLIC JUSTICE, Washington, DC (Emily Villano, Public Justice, Washington, DC, Juno Turner, David H. Seligman, and Valerie Collins, Towards Justice, Denver, CO, Beth Terrell, Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC, Seattle, WA, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
JASON C. SCHWARTZ, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, DC (Lucas C. Townsend, Lochlan F. Shelfer, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, DC, Avi Weitzman, Zainab N. Ahmad, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees.
WILLIAM J. NARDINI, Circuit Judge:
Workers at Amazon’s JFK8 fulfillment center and members of
their households (together, “Plaintiffs”) challenge workplace COVID-
19 policies, practices, and procedures at JFK8. Their suit against
Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services LLC (together,
“Amazon”) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of New York (Brian M. Cogan, Judge) asserts causes of action under
3 New York law for public nuisance, breach of the duty to protect the
health and safety of employees under New York Labor Law
(“NYLL”) § 200, violation of NYLL § 191 for failure to pay, on time
and in full, COVID-19 sick leave under New York’s COVID-19 sick
leave law, and injunctive relief against future violations of NYLL
§ 191. Amazon moved to dismiss Plaintiffs’ amended complaint. In
a memorandum decision and order filed on November 2, 2020, the
district court granted Amazon’s motion. On November 3, 2020, the
district court entered judgment dismissing Plaintiffs’ amended
complaint.
The district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and
NYLL § 200 claims without prejudice under the primary jurisdiction
doctrine, concluding that the questions before the court turned on
factual issues requiring the technical and policy expertise of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”). In the
alternative, the district court concluded that Plaintiffs failed to allege
4 the special injury required to state a claim for public nuisance; that
New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law preempts suit under NYLL
§ 200 for injunctive relief for past harm; and that Plaintiffs failed to
allege a cognizable injury under NYLL § 200 based on the threat of
future harm. The district court then dismissed with prejudice
Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 191 claims, concluding that COVID-19 leave
payments are not “wages” as defined by § 191.
Plaintiffs now appeal the district court’s dismissal. This appeal
presents five key questions: (1) whether Plaintiffs’ public nuisance
and NYLL § 200 claims are moot because they are premised on New
York Forward, a state-issued plan with industry-specific guidance for
businesses that has since been rescinded; (2) whether the district court
correctly applied the primary jurisdiction doctrine in dismissing
Plaintiffs’ state law claims in deference to OSHA; (3) whether
Plaintiffs plausibly plead a special injury to support a public nuisance
claim against Amazon; (4) whether the New York Workers’
5 Compensation Law bars claims for injunctive relief under NYLL
§ 200; and (5) whether NYLL § 191 establishes how and when COVID-
19 sick leave pay must be paid.
First, we hold that Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200
claims are not moot. These claims continue to present a live
controversy because they are not based solely on since-rescinded
guidance associated with the New York Forward plan. Second, we
hold that the doctrine of primary jurisdiction does not apply to
Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims. The issues before
us—whether Amazon created a public nuisance and whether
Amazon has breached its duty owed to Plaintiffs under NYLL § 200—
turn on questions of state tort law that are within the conventional
experience of judges. Although it is certainly within OSHA’s
competence to evaluate and create workplace health and safety
standards, OSHA’s expertise would not be a material aid here; the
issues before us are of a legal, not factual, nature and do not require
6 the kind of highly factual inquiry that would typically be aided by
OSHA’s expertise. Furthermore, OSHA has not promulgated the
kind of cross-industry COVID-19 workplace safety standards that
might be applicable here. Third, we hold that although Plaintiffs may
plead a harm that is different in degree from the community at large,
they fail to plead a harm that is different in kind, thereby failing to
allege the special injury required to state a claim for public nuisance
under New York law. Fourth, we hold that New York’s Workers’
Compensation Law is concerned only with claims for monetary relief
and leaves open claims against employers for injunctive relief under
NYLL § 200. Lastly, we hold that NYLL § 191 determines the pay
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20-3989-cv Palmer v. Amazon
In the United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit
August Term, 2020 No. 20-3989-cv
DERRICK PALMER, KENDIA MESIDOR, BENITA ROUSE, ALEXANDER ROUSE, BARBARA CHANDLER, LUIS PELLOT-CHANDLER, DEASAHNI BERNARD, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
AMAZON.COM, INC., AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC, Defendants-Appellees.
On Appeal from a Judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
ARGUED: MAY 19, 2021 DECIDED: OCTOBER 18, 2022
Before: JACOBS, CHIN, and NARDINI, Circuit Judges.
This case involves claims brought by workers at Amazon’s JFK8 fulfillment center and members of the workers’ households in connection with the COVID-19 policies, practices, and procedures at JFK8. In their amended complaint Plaintiffs allege causes of action for public nuisance, breach of the duty to protect the health and safety of employees under New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) § 200, violation of NYLL § 191 for failure to pay, on time and in full, COVID-19 sick leave under New York’s COVID-19 sick leave law, and injunctive relief against future violations of NYLL § 191. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brian M. Cogan, Judge) dismissed Plaintiffs’ amended complaint, relying on the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, as well as alternative grounds, to dispose of the public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims, and dismissing Plaintiffs’ § 191 claim for failure to state a claim for relief based on COVID-19 sick leave payments not falling within § 191’s definition of “wages.” Plaintiffs now appeal. First, we reject Amazon’s contention that we should partially dismiss this appeal as moot. Second, we agree with Plaintiffs that the district court wrongly applied the primary jurisdiction doctrine to their public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims. Ultimately, however, only their § 200 claim survives. Accordingly, we hold: (1) Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims are not moot; (2) the doctrine of primary jurisdiction does not apply to Plaintiffs’ public nuisance or NYLL § 200 claims; (3) Plaintiffs fail to state a claim for public nuisance under New York law because they do not allege a special injury; (4) Section 11 of the New York Workers’ Compensation Law does not preclude injunctive relief under NYLL § 200; and (5) COVID-19 sick leave payments are not “wages” under NYLL § 191. We therefore AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 191 claims; and we VACATE the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 200 claim and REMAND to the district court for further proceedings on that claim.
Judge Chin concurs in part and dissents in part in a separate opinion.
2 KARLA GILBRIDE, PUBLIC JUSTICE, Washington, DC (Emily Villano, Public Justice, Washington, DC, Juno Turner, David H. Seligman, and Valerie Collins, Towards Justice, Denver, CO, Beth Terrell, Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC, Seattle, WA, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
JASON C. SCHWARTZ, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, DC (Lucas C. Townsend, Lochlan F. Shelfer, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, DC, Avi Weitzman, Zainab N. Ahmad, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellees.
WILLIAM J. NARDINI, Circuit Judge:
Workers at Amazon’s JFK8 fulfillment center and members of
their households (together, “Plaintiffs”) challenge workplace COVID-
19 policies, practices, and procedures at JFK8. Their suit against
Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services LLC (together,
“Amazon”) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of New York (Brian M. Cogan, Judge) asserts causes of action under
3 New York law for public nuisance, breach of the duty to protect the
health and safety of employees under New York Labor Law
(“NYLL”) § 200, violation of NYLL § 191 for failure to pay, on time
and in full, COVID-19 sick leave under New York’s COVID-19 sick
leave law, and injunctive relief against future violations of NYLL
§ 191. Amazon moved to dismiss Plaintiffs’ amended complaint. In
a memorandum decision and order filed on November 2, 2020, the
district court granted Amazon’s motion. On November 3, 2020, the
district court entered judgment dismissing Plaintiffs’ amended
complaint.
The district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and
NYLL § 200 claims without prejudice under the primary jurisdiction
doctrine, concluding that the questions before the court turned on
factual issues requiring the technical and policy expertise of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”). In the
alternative, the district court concluded that Plaintiffs failed to allege
4 the special injury required to state a claim for public nuisance; that
New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law preempts suit under NYLL
§ 200 for injunctive relief for past harm; and that Plaintiffs failed to
allege a cognizable injury under NYLL § 200 based on the threat of
future harm. The district court then dismissed with prejudice
Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 191 claims, concluding that COVID-19 leave
payments are not “wages” as defined by § 191.
Plaintiffs now appeal the district court’s dismissal. This appeal
presents five key questions: (1) whether Plaintiffs’ public nuisance
and NYLL § 200 claims are moot because they are premised on New
York Forward, a state-issued plan with industry-specific guidance for
businesses that has since been rescinded; (2) whether the district court
correctly applied the primary jurisdiction doctrine in dismissing
Plaintiffs’ state law claims in deference to OSHA; (3) whether
Plaintiffs plausibly plead a special injury to support a public nuisance
claim against Amazon; (4) whether the New York Workers’
5 Compensation Law bars claims for injunctive relief under NYLL
§ 200; and (5) whether NYLL § 191 establishes how and when COVID-
19 sick leave pay must be paid.
First, we hold that Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200
claims are not moot. These claims continue to present a live
controversy because they are not based solely on since-rescinded
guidance associated with the New York Forward plan. Second, we
hold that the doctrine of primary jurisdiction does not apply to
Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims. The issues before
us—whether Amazon created a public nuisance and whether
Amazon has breached its duty owed to Plaintiffs under NYLL § 200—
turn on questions of state tort law that are within the conventional
experience of judges. Although it is certainly within OSHA’s
competence to evaluate and create workplace health and safety
standards, OSHA’s expertise would not be a material aid here; the
issues before us are of a legal, not factual, nature and do not require
6 the kind of highly factual inquiry that would typically be aided by
OSHA’s expertise. Furthermore, OSHA has not promulgated the
kind of cross-industry COVID-19 workplace safety standards that
might be applicable here. Third, we hold that although Plaintiffs may
plead a harm that is different in degree from the community at large,
they fail to plead a harm that is different in kind, thereby failing to
allege the special injury required to state a claim for public nuisance
under New York law. Fourth, we hold that New York’s Workers’
Compensation Law is concerned only with claims for monetary relief
and leaves open claims against employers for injunctive relief under
NYLL § 200. Lastly, we hold that NYLL § 191 determines the pay
frequency for “wages” but not “benefits or supplemental wages.”
Because COVID-19 leave payments are not “wages” as defined by
NYLL § 191, Plaintiffs do not have a private cause of action under
§ 191 for Amazon’s alleged failure to comply with New York’s
COVID-19 sick leave law.
7 Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal of
Plaintiffs’ public nuisance claim and NYLL § 191 claims for damages
and injunctive relief; and we VACATE the district court’s dismissal of
Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 200 claim seeking a declaratory judgment and
injunctive relief and REMAND to the district court for further
proceedings on this claim.
I. Background
We assume the following facts, which are taken from Plaintiffs’
amended complaint, to be true for the purposes of this appeal.
Kolbasyuk v. Cap. Mgmt. Servs., LP, 918 F.3d 236, 238 n.1, 239 (2d Cir.
2019).
A. Amazon’s Operations at JFK8
The JFK8 fulfillment center (“JFK8”) is a facility operated by
Amazon in Staten Island, New York. JFK8 covers approximately
840,000 square feet and runs twenty-four hours per day, seven days
per week. On average, JFK8 employs 3,500 workers at any given time.
8 During peak seasons—the period around Amazon Prime Day in July
and the months leading up to Christmas—the workforce expands to
approximately 5,000. During the course of the pandemic, Amazon’s
national workforce expanded. As of April 2020, Amazon had hired
175,000 more workers to account for increased demand for online
shopping and product delivery.
Amazon tracks its employees’ activity through devices workers
use to scan items and packages. It uses this information to determine
whether employees are on task and to calculate an employee’s total
time off task (“TOT”) for each shift. An employee’s TOT in a shift is
not to exceed thirty minutes. TOT greater than thirty minutes results
in a written warning; TOT greater than sixty minutes results in a final
written warning; and TOT greater than 120 minutes results in an
automatic termination. Employees accumulate TOT during
bathroom breaks. An employee’s supervisor must re-code certain
TOT activities to prevent them from contributing to an employee’s
9 total TOT. Supervisors cannot re-code TOT for bathroom breaks, but
they can decide whether to discipline an employee for exceeding TOT
limits because of those breaks.
B. New York’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
On March 1, 2020, New York announced its first confirmed case
of COVID-19. On March 20, 2020, then-New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo issued the New York State on PAUSE Executive Order. Exec.
Order No. 202.6 (N.Y. Mar. 22, 2020). The Order permitted essential
businesses—those providing products or services required to
maintain the health, safety, and welfare of New Yorkers—to remain
open. Amazon was deemed an essential business.
In May 2020, New York began a phased reopening of non-
essential businesses under the New York Forward plan. The plan
provided detailed, industry-specific guidance for essential businesses
and non-essential businesses that were permitted to reopen. The
guidance outlined “minimum requirements” businesses needed to
10 follow to remain open. JFK8 was subject to the New York Forward
Interim Guidance for the Wholesale Trade Sector.
In parallel to the Governor’s executive action, on March 18,
2020, the New York legislature responded to the pandemic by
enacting a COVID-19 sick leave law (the “Leave Law”). See 2020 N.Y.
Sess. Laws ch. 25 (McKinney). The Leave Law requires employers to
pay sick leave to employees who are “subject to a mandatory or
precautionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by the state of
New York, the department of health, local board of health, or any
governmental entity duly authorized to issue such order to COVID-
19.” Id. § 1.1(a). The amount of sick leave an employer must provide
varies based on its number of employees. Employers with a
workforce of one hundred or more must give at least fourteen days of
paid sick leave during any mandatory or precautionary order of
quarantine or isolation. Id. § 1.1(c).
11 C. Plaintiffs’ allegations
Plaintiffs are warehouse workers at JFK8 and members of the
employees’ households. The employee plaintiffs are Derrick Palmer,
Benita Rouse, Barbara Chandler, and Deasahni Bernard. Their roles
all involve working close to other team members, and most of their
roles include touching items that other workers have handled. The
remaining plaintiffs (together, the “Non-Employee Plaintiffs”) live in
the households of the employee plaintiffs: Kendia Mesidor is in a
relationship with Derrick Palmer, and Alexander Rouse and Luis
Pellot-Chandler are the children of Benita Rouse and Barbara
Chandler, respectively. Chandler and Bernard contracted COVID-19
while employed at JFK8. Members of Chandler’s household
experienced symptoms of COVID-19, including her cousin who died
in April 2020.
As the pandemic hit New York in spring 2020, Plaintiffs became
concerned that Amazon was disregarding federal and state
12 guidance—namely, the New York Forward plan, the Leave Law, and
guidance from the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (“CDC”)—and thereby creating an unsafe workplace
during a global pandemic.
Plaintiffs allege that Amazon deters workers from social
distancing, washing hands, and disinfecting workstations. Plaintiffs
point to a primary root cause: TOT requirements. Although Amazon
purportedly suspended TOT tracking requirements and productivity
feedback in March 2020, Plaintiffs allege that Amazon did not inform
workers of this change until an announcement on July 13, 2020.
According to Plaintiffs, even after Amazon’s July announcement,
managers continued to post TOT rate goals around the JFK8 facility
and to encourage workers to meet those goals. Plaintiffs assert that
Amazon’s mixed messages and lack of communication concerning
TOT and rate policies discourage workers from leaving their
workstations to wash their hands and from taking time to disinfect
13 their work area. Although workers in some departments can re-code
their time to indicate that they are “off task” to address a dangerous
condition, equipment malfunction, or injury, Amazon does not
provide the same re-coding mechanism for employees breaking to
wash hands, social distance, or sanitize workstations.
Next, Plaintiffs allege that Amazon failed to implement any
policy regarding social distancing. Only two of the breakrooms at
JFK8 are air-conditioned, concentrating workers in those rooms
during the hotter spring and summer months. Moreover, Amazon
changed its break policies, shifting from two twenty-minute breaks
plus lunch per shift to one thirty-five-minute break plus lunch per
shift. Plaintiffs allege this change thwarts workers’ ability to social
distance because more employees are in breakrooms, bathrooms, and
hallways at a given time.
Plaintiffs further allege that Amazon makes COVID-19 sick
leave inaccessible and fails to pay workers on time and in full under
14 the Leave Law, which encourages workers to forgo taking leave and
attend work while sick. A JFK8 worker who has symptoms of
COVID-19 or who is exposed to someone with the virus is required to
communicate with Amazon’s human resources (“HR”) team before
taking sick leave pursuant to the Leave Law. The process for learning
whether the employee can stay home is lengthy and confusing.
Plaintiffs recount situations in which they repeatedly called the HR
team but were unable to speak with one of its team members. Once
an employee finally learns that they must quarantine, Amazon fails
to timely provide the employee with full payment of COVID-19 sick
pay.
Plaintiffs also allege that Amazon’s handling of contact-tracing
fails to adequately track employees who test positive for COVID-19
and the coworkers with whom they came into close contact. Amazon
does not track the symptoms of workers who report exposure to
COVID-19, and it allegedly discourages workers from informing their
15 colleagues that they tested positive for the virus. Amazon also does
not ask COVID-19-positive employees with whom they have come
into close contact at JFK8. Amazon relies solely on surveillance
technology to make these contact determinations, which Plaintiffs
argue is inadequate.
Lastly, Plaintiffs allege that Amazon fails to deep clean JFK8
and close the facility, whether in whole or in part, after receiving
confirmation that a worker tested positive for COVID-19.
D. District court proceedings
On June 3, 2020, Plaintiffs filed a complaint in the U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of New York asserting claims for public
nuisance, breach of duty under NYLL § 200, and violations of NYLL
§ 191 for failure to pay, on time and in full, COVID-19 sick leave.
Plaintiffs also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, which they
subsequently withdrew after Amazon’s announcement on July 13,
2020, concerning changes to productivity policies.
On July 28, 2020, Plaintiffs filed an amended four-count
16 complaint expanding their NYLL § 191 claims into a statewide class
action and adding an additional named Plaintiff. In Count I, Plaintiffs
assert that Amazon is creating a public nuisance by failing to comply
with minimum basic health and safety standards at JFK8. Plaintiffs
seek injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment under 28 U.S.C.
§ 2201. In Count II, Plaintiffs allege that Amazon is breaching its duty
to protect the health and safety of its employees under NYLL § 200,
seeking injunctive relief and a declaratory judgment under 28 U.S.C.
§ 2201. In Count III, Plaintiffs seek damages for Amazon’s alleged
failure to timely pay earned COVID-19 sick leave under NYLL § 191.
In Count IV, Plaintiffs seek to enjoin Amazon from future failures to
pay earned COVID-19 sick leave on time under NYLL § 191.
On August 11, 2020, Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the
amended complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1)
and 12(b)(6). The district court granted Amazon’s motion on
November 2, 2020, and entered judgment the following day. Under
17 the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, the district court dismissed,
without prejudice, Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims.
The court concluded that because the relief Plaintiffs seek “involves
detailed aspects of how Amazon regulates its workplace,” Plaintiffs’
claims turned “on factual issues requiring [OSHA’s] technical and
policy expertise.” App’x at 137. The risk of inconsistent rulings
absent agency deferral and the advantages of applying the doctrine
also tipped in favor of invoking primary jurisdiction. In the
alternative, the district court concluded that Plaintiffs fail to state a
public nuisance claim because they do not allege special injury, that
Plaintiffs’ claim for past harm under NYLL § 200 is preempted by
New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law, and that Plaintiffs’ NYLL
§ 200 claim based on the threat of future harm fails to allege a
cognizable injury. As to Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 191 claims, the district
court concluded that Plaintiffs cannot state a claim for relief because
COVID-19 sick leave payments are not “wages” under § 191.
18 On November 24, 2020, Plaintiffs filed a timely notice of appeal.
II. Discussion
We review de novo a district court’s grant of a motion to dismiss
under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), accepting the allegations in the
complaint as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of
the plaintiff. Atterbury v. U.S. Marshals Serv., 805 F.3d 398, 403 (2d Cir.
2015); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). When a district
court invokes the primary jurisdiction doctrine, our standard of
review is likewise de novo. Nat’l Commc’ns Ass’n, Inc. v. Am. Tel. & Tel.
Co., 46 F.3d 220, 222 (2d Cir. 1995) [hereinafter AT&T Co.] (“[T]he
standard of review [of a dismissal on the basis of the primary
jurisdiction doctrine] is essentially de novo.” (citation omitted)); see also
Seneca Nation of Indians v. New York, 988 F.3d 618, 629 (2d Cir. 2021)
(“We review a district court’s decision not to apply the doctrine of
primary jurisdiction de novo.”); Ellis v. Tribune Television Co., 443 F.3d
71, 83 n.14 (2d Cir. 2006) (same).
19 On appeal, Plaintiffs ask us to vacate the grant of Amazon’s
motion to dismiss, challenging the district court’s conclusions that:
deference is due to OSHA under the primary jurisdiction doctrine;
Plaintiffs fail to plausibly allege special harm sufficient to state a claim
for public nuisance; the claim under NYLL § 200 is preempted by
New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law; and COVID-19 sick leave
payments do not constitute “wages” as defined by NYLL § 191.
Amazon moves for partial dismissal of Plaintiffs’ appeal, arguing that
Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims are moot because
New York has since rescinded the guidance upon which these claims
rely.
As a preliminary matter, we deny Amazon’s motion for partial
dismissal. Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims are not
moot because these claims do not rely solely upon rescinded New
York guidance, and it is still possible for a court to grant Plaintiffs
injunctive and declaratory relief if they are the prevailing party.
20 Turning to the merits, we agree with Plaintiffs that the district court
wrongly applied the primary jurisdiction doctrine to their public
nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims. But ultimately, as we explain below,
only Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 200 claim survives dismissal.
A. Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims are not moot
As a threshold matter, we must consider Amazon’s motion for
partial dismissal of the appeal on mootness grounds. “[M]ootness
doctrine ensures that [a] litigant’s interest in the outcome continues
to exist throughout the life of the lawsuit.” Conn. Citizens Def. League,
Inc. v. Lamont, 6 F.4th 439, 444 (2d Cir. 2021) (internal quotation marks
omitted). If because of changed circumstances “a case that presented
an actual redressable injury at the time it was filed ceases to involve
such an injury, it ceases to fall within a federal court’s Article III
subject matter jurisdiction and must be dismissed for mootness.” Id.
(internal quotation marks omitted). “A case becomes moot when it is
impossible for a court to grant any effectual relief whatever to the
21 prevailing party.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
Amazon argues that Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200
claims are moot because the guidance on which these claims rely, the
New York Forward plan, has since been rescinded. 1 We read the
amended complaint differently. Contrary to Amazon’s argument,
Plaintiffs’ claims do not rely solely on alleged violations of New York
Forward guidance. Instead, Plaintiffs use the New York Forward
guidance as one of several guideposts—alongside, for example, the
Leave Law and CDC guidance—for establishing the minimum duty
Amazon owes to Plaintiffs with respect to worker health and safety at
JFK8 in the face of COVID-19.
Accordingly, a live controversy remains. In particular,
rescission of the New York Forward guidance did not resolve
1 As of June 15, 2021, New York lifted most COVID-19 restrictions, including most New York Forward guidance. New York State, New York Forward, Archived Industry Guidance, https://forward.ny.gov/archived-industry-guidance (last visited October 14, 2022) (explaining how the “archived New York Forward industry reopening guidance documents are no longer mandatory”).
22 whether Amazon “provide[s] reasonable and adequate protection to
the lives, health and safety” of its employees in conformity with
NYLL § 200, 2 App’x at 120, nor did it resolve whether Amazon has
created a public nuisance. Even if Plaintiffs now lack their preferred
guidepost to establish Amazon’s minimum duty to its employees,
“[a]s long as [Plaintiffs] have a concrete interest in the outcome of the
litigation, the case is not moot.” Firefighter’s Local 1784 v. Stotts, 467
U.S. 561, 568 (1984); see New Eng. Health Care Emps. Union, Dist. 1199
v. Mount Sinai Hosp., 65 F.3d 1024, 1029 (2d Cir. 1995) (“[S]o long as
2 Amazon also points to a May 10, 2022, decision of the First Department of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court to argue that Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 200 claim should be dismissed as moot. See Appellees’ Rule 28(j) Ltr. (May 12, 2022). There, the First Department concluded that the New York Attorney General’s NYLL § 200 claim “seeking a permanent injunction requiring Amazon to undertake policies consistent with COVID-19 workplace guidelines issued by the State must be dismissed as moot, as the State has withdrawn the public health guidance that the claim seeks to enforce, including by prospective injunctive relief.” New York v. Amazon.com, 205 A.D.3d 485, 487 (1st Dep’t 2022). That decision does not alter our conclusion here. At bottom, the New York Attorney General in the New York case specifically sought to enforce guidance that is no longer in place. In comparison, as we explain above, Plaintiffs do not seek to enforce the now-withdrawn New York guidance. Rather, Plaintiffs rely upon New York guidance as one of several guideposts to argue that Amazon is breaching the duty of care it owes to JFK8 workers under NYLL § 200.
23 the appellant retains some interest in the case, so that a decision in its
favor will inure to its benefit, its appeal is not moot.”). Having
considered the remainder of Amazon’s justiciability arguments, we
find them meritless and turn to the substance of Plaintiffs’ appeal.
B. The district court incorrectly applied the primary jurisdiction doctrine in dismissing Plaintiffs’ state law claims in deference to OSHA
The federal courts have a “virtually unflagging
obligation . . . to exercise the jurisdiction given them.” Tassy v.
Brunswick Hosp. Ctr., Inc., 296 F.3d 65, 73 (2d Cir. 2002) (quoting Colo.
River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 817 (1976)).
Here, we must address a “relatively narrow” exception to this
obligation: the doctrine of primary jurisdiction. Goya Foods, Inc. v.
Tropicana Prods., Inc., 846 F.2d 848, 851 (2d Cir. 1988). The doctrine is
a prudential one, Schiller v. Tower Semiconductor Ltd., 449 F.3d 286,
294–95 (2d Cir. 2006), fashioned by the courts, TCG N.Y., Inc. v. City of
White Plains, 305 F.3d 67, 74 (2d Cir. 2002), concerned primarily with
“promoting relationships between the courts and [the] administrative
24 agencies charged with particular regulatory duties,” Ellis, 443 F.3d at
81 (quoting United States v. W. Pac. R.R. Co., 352 U.S. 59, 63 (1956)),
and with ensuring the two “do not work at cross-purposes,” id.
(internal quotation marks omitted). The doctrine of primary
jurisdiction “applies where a claim is originally cognizable in the
courts, but enforcement of the claim requires, or is materially aided
by, the resolution of threshold issues, usually of a factual nature,
which are placed within the special competence of the administrative
body.” Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe of Indians v. Weicker, 39 F.3d 51,
58–59 (2d Cir. 1994).
For a court to invoke the primary jurisdiction doctrine, it must
determine that the agency, not the courts, should have the “initial
decisionmaking responsibility.” Ellis, 443 F.3d at 81 (emphasis
added) (internal quotation marks omitted). A court’s application of
the primary jurisdiction doctrine thus “does not [necessarily] deprive
the court of jurisdiction.” Reiter v. Cooper, 507 U.S. 258, 268–69 (1993).
25 Rather, once a court determines that the doctrine applies, it has
discretion either: (1) to retain jurisdiction or (2) to dismiss the case
without prejudice. Id.
If the court retains jurisdiction, the case is “held pending the
conclusion of an appropriate administrative proceeding.” Gen. Am.
Tank Car Corp. v. El Dorado T. Co., 308 U.S. 422, 433 (1940); see W. Pac.
R.R. Co., 352 U.S. at 64 (“[T]he judicial process is suspended pending
referral of such issues to the administrative body for its views.”). In
other words, the case is “stayed so as to give the plaintiff a reasonable
opportunity within which to apply to the [agency] for a ruling.”
Mitchell Coal & Coke Co. v. Pa. R.R. Co., 230 U.S. 247, 267 (1913); see also
Reiter, 507 U.S. at 268 n.3 (observing that “‘[r]eferral’ is sometimes
loosely described as a process whereby a court refers an issue to an
agency,” and clarifying that the Supreme Court’s decision in Mitchell
Coal “spelled out the actual procedure contemplated [in] holding that
further action by the district court should be stayed so as to give the
26 plaintiff a reasonable opportunity within which to apply to the
[agency] for a ruling as to the reasonableness of the practice” (internal
quotation marks omitted)).
A court in its discretion may choose to dismiss the case without
prejudice—but only “if the parties would not be unfairly
disadvantaged.” Reiter, 507 U.S. at 268. To determine whether a party
will be unfairly disadvantaged, a court can look to the relief the party
is seeking. For example, in Carnation Co. v. Pacific Westbound
Conference, the Supreme Court distinguished between a plaintiff
seeking injunctive relief and a plaintiff seeking damages. 383 U.S. 213,
222–23 (1966). There, the Supreme Court noted how, unlike a suit for
injunctive relief from continuing conduct—a suit that “could easily be
reinstituted if and when the [agency] determined” the questions at
issue—a “damage[s] action for past conduct cannot be easily
reinstated at a later time” because “[s]uch claims are subject to the
Statute of Limitations.” Id. Our Court applied these principles in
27 Mathirampuzha v. Potter, where we vacated the district court’s
dismissal and remanded with instructions to stay the proceedings
pending a final determination by the administrative agency because
dismissing the case presented “a significant danger of unfair
disadvantage . . . inasmuch as the plaintiff’s claim [was] subject to a
statute of limitations.” 548 F.3d 70, 84–85 (2d Cir. 2008).
When determining whether to apply the doctrine of primary
jurisdiction, a court must look to “whether the reasons for the
existence of the doctrine are present and whether the purposes it
serves will be aided by its application in the particular litigation.” W.
Pac. R.R. Co., 352 U.S. at 64. These reasons and purposes are two-fold.
Tassy, 296 F.3d at 68. First, the doctrine seeks to foster “uniformity
and consistency in the regulation of business entrusted to a particular
agency.” Goya Foods, 846 F.2d at 851 (alteration omitted) (quoting
Nader v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., 426 U.S. 290, 303–04 (1976)); see Tex. &
Pac. Ry. Co. v. Abilene Cotton Oil Co., 204 U.S. 426, 440 (1907)
28 (concluding that “without previous action by the [agency], power
might be exerted by courts and juries generally to determine the
reasonableness of an established rate, [and] it would follow that
unless all courts reached an identical conclusion a uniform standard
of rates in the future would be impossible”). Second, the doctrine
recognizes that, for certain matters, “‘the expert and specialized
knowledge of the agencies’ should be ascertained before judicial
consideration of the legal claim.” Goya Foods, 846 F.2d at 851 (quoting
W. Pac. R.R., 352 U.S. at 64); see Great N. Ry. Co. v. Merchs.’ Elevator Co.,
259 U.S. 285, 291 (1922) (invoking primary jurisdiction because “the
inquiry is essentially one of fact and of discretion in technical
matters”).
With the doctrine’s reasons and purposes in mind, we turn to
whether deferring to OSHA here is appropriate. Although “[n]o fixed
formula exists for applying the doctrine of primary jurisdiction,” Ellis,
443 F.3d at 82 (quoting W. Pac. R.R. Co., 352 U.S. at 64), and we
29 generally conduct our analysis on a “case-by-case basis,” Gen. Elec.
Co. v. MV Nedlloyd, 817 F.2d 1022, 1026 (2d Cir. 1987), in Ellis v. Tribune
Television Co., our Court highlighted four factors—which we refer to
here as the “Ellis factors”—upon which we focus our analysis:
(1) whether the question at issue is within the conventional experience of judges or whether it involves technical or policy considerations within the agency’s particular field of expertise; (2) whether the question at issue is particularly within the agency’s discretion; (3) whether there exists a substantial danger of inconsistent rulings; and (4) whether a prior application to the agency has been made.
443 F.3d at 82–83. We must also “balance the advantages of applying
the doctrine against the potential costs resulting from complications
and delay in the administrative proceedings.” Id. at 83 (quoting
AT&T Co., 46 F.3d at 223).
1. The Ellis Factors
Upon weighing the Ellis factors, balancing the advantages of
applying the doctrine of primary jurisdiction with the potential costs,
and considering the doctrine’s two-fold aim—particularly the
30 importance of the courts staying their hand in favor of an agency’s
knowledge and expertise—we conclude that the district court
incorrectly applied the doctrine to Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and
NYLL § 200 claims.
a. The question at issue is within the conventional experience of judges
Amazon argues that “Plaintiffs have asked the district court to
craft out of whole cloth a series of regulations applicable to JFK8
alone,” which it contends “is not the core competence of courts.”
Amazon Br. at 21. But the issues before us are tort-based claims—
public nuisance and breach of NYLL § 200—that are within the
conventional experience of judges.
Generally, we decline to apply the doctrine of primary
jurisdiction “when the issue at stake is legal in nature and lies within
the traditional realm of judicial competence.” Goya Foods, 846 F.2d at
851. For instance, in determining whether it was appropriate to apply
the doctrine, we have identified the following as within “the daily fare
31 of federal judges,” Schiller, 449 F.3d at 295: statutory interpretation,
id.; applying “reasonably settled definitions” in a statute to the facts
of a case, F.T.C. v. Verity Int’l, Ltd., 443 F.3d 48, 60 (2d Cir. 2006); issues
of contract interpretation, Fulton Cogeneration Assocs. v. Niagara
Mohawk Power Corp., 84 F.3d 91, 97 (2d Cir. 1996); and issues involving
“the application of common law principles,” Gen. Elec. Co., 817 F.2d
at 1027–28.
Looking at the questions before us here, courts routinely decide
whether a defendant’s conduct constitutes a public nuisance. See, e.g.,
Benoit v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 959 F.3d 491, 504–05
(2d Cir. 2020); Connecticut v. Am. Elec. Power Co., 582 F.3d 309, 353 (2d
Cir. 2009), rev’d on other grounds, 564 U.S. 410 (2011); New York v. Shore
Realty Corp., 759 F.2d 1032, 1050–52 (2d Cir. 1985); 532 Madison Ave.
Gourmet Foods v. Finlandia Ctr., 96 N.Y.2d 280, 292 (2001); see also Tull
v. United States, 481 U.S. 412, 423 (1987) (“A public nuisance action
was a classic example of the kind of suit that relied on injunctive relief
32 provided by courts in equity.”). In addressing this issue, we must
answer antecedent questions of whether a defendant is endangering
the health or safety of a considerable number of persons and whether
a plaintiff has alleged that they suffer special injury beyond that
suffered by the community at large. See Benoit, 959 F.3d at 504–05; 532
Madison Ave., 96 N.Y.2d at 292.
Similarly, Plaintiffs’ § 200 claim presents questions sounding in
state tort law, and routinely addressed by courts: what duty of care
Amazon owes to Plaintiffs and whether Amazon is in breach of its
duty. See, e.g., In re World Trade Ctr. Lower Manhattan Disaster Site
Litig., 758 F.3d 202, 210 (2d Cir. 2014); Caronia v. Philip Morris USA,
Inc., 715 F.3d 417, 428 (2d Cir. 2013); Akins v. Glens Falls City Sch. Dist.,
53 N.Y.2d 325, 331, 333 (1981). As NYLL § 200 is a codification of the
common law duty to provide workers with a safe work environment,
e.g., Lombardi v. Stout, 80 N.Y.2d 290, 294 (N.Y. 1992); Everitt v.
Nozkowski, 285 A.D.2d 442, 443 (2d Dep’t 2001), a federal court here
33 can look to New York’s common law to inform its determination as
to whether Amazon breached the duty of care it owed to Plaintiffs.
And where common law principles are at play, we have determined
that the issues should be addressed in a judicial forum. See, e.g., Gen.
Elec. Co., 817 F.2d at 1027–28 (“[T]he application of common law
principles [is] more competently decided in a judicial forum”
(internal citations omitted)).
Amazon also takes issue with the relief Plaintiffs seek, arguing
that Plaintiffs ask the district court to regulate through an injunction
and to address “detailed aspects” of operations at JFK8, thereby
making OSHA, not the courts, the forum best positioned to evaluate
Plaintiffs’ claims. Amazon Br. at 23–24. But Amazon’s arguments
about the possible scope of relief do not transform the traditional state
tort law questions before us into issues requiring OSHA’s technical
and policy expertise. Before relief can be fashioned, questions of
injury, duty, and breach must be addressed. These questions,
34 including whether the relief requested exceeds that warranted by the
injuries alleged, are squarely within a district court’s bailiwick.
b. The question at issue is not particularly within the agency’s discretion
To determine whether a question falls particularly within an
agency’s discretion, a court looks not to whether administrative
proceedings will make any contribution to resolving the question
before it, but whether administrative proceedings are “likely to make
a meaningful contribution” to resolving the question. Ricci v. Chi.
Mercantile Exch., 409 U.S. 289, 306 (1973) (emphasis added) (internal
quotation marks omitted). Thus, under the second Ellis factor we ask
“whether an agency’s review of the facts ‘will be a material aid’ to the
court ultimately charged with applying” the facts to the law. Tassy,
296 F.3d at 73 (emphasis added) (quoting Ricci, 409 U.S. at 305).
OSHA’s review of these facts would not be such an aid.
Congress created OSHA through the Occupational Safety and
Health Act of 1970 (the “OSH Act”) to “assure . . . safe and healthful
35 working conditions” for workers by setting and enforcing standards
and providing research, education, and training in the field of
occupational safety and health. 29 U.S.C. § 651. It is therefore within
OSHA’s competence to evaluate and create workplace health and
safety standards. But even assuming this case falls within that
competence, “[i]n the primary jurisdiction context, whether an agency
is statutorily authorized to resolve a particular issue is not itself
determinative of whether to apply the doctrine.” Tassy, 296 F.3d at
73.
To determine whether an agency’s expertise would materially
aid the court, we often assess whether a given issue is “legal in
nature,” Goya Foods, 846 F.2d at 851–52, or “of a factual nature,” Golden
Hill Paugussett Tribe of Indians, 39 F.3d at 58–59. For example, we have
concluded that it is particularly within the Bureau of Indian Affairs’
discretion to resolve “factual issues regarding tribal status,” Id. at 60,
and that the Federal Communications Commission’s exclusive
36 authority over licensing materially aids the “highly factual inquiry”
of whether to apply a license waiver. Ellis, 443 F.3d at 83–85. But even
in those instances, categorizing the nature of the issue does not end
our inquiry.
When a court is asked to resolve a factual issue the subject-
matter of which falls within an agency’s purview, the question is not
whether, in the abstract, it would be helpful for the agency to set
standards of its own. The issue is instead whether the agency’s
expertise would materially assist the court in resolving difficult
factual questions to determine whether specified legal standards have
been violated. For instance, in Tassy v. Brunswick Hospital Center, Inc.,
an agency’s medical expertise was not required to resolve the
pertinent factual issue before the Court: whether the defendant
committed the alleged sexual harassment. 296 F.3d at 70–71. The
issue did not “implicate any medical data or complex records,” and
so, it was not particularly difficult for a court to handle, nor
37 particularly necessary for an agency to resolve. Id. Similarly, in AT&T
Co., determining whether a party qualified for a lower contract tariff
rate depended on answering the “rather simple factual question” of
whether a party had timely paid its bills, a question whose resolution
was “within the district court’s experience” and did not require the
FCC’s “policy expertise, or its specialized knowledge.” 46 F.3d at 223.
In support of its contention that the public nuisance and NYLL
§ 200 questions before us are particularly within OSHA’s discretion,
Amazon argues that Plaintiffs’ claims “turn on factual issues
requiring both technical and policy expertise.” Amazon Br. 23
(internal quotation marks omitted). Amazon highlights how, as of
December 2020, OSHA had “conduct[ed] more than 1,430 COVID-
related inspections and issu[ed] citations totaling more than
$3,849,222 to 294 employers.” Id. at 25. But Amazon fails to mention
that OSHA issued most of those COVID-related citations to
employers in the healthcare sector. See Dep’t of Labor Br. at 33, AFT
38 v. OSHA, No. 20-73203 (9th Cir. Dec. 31, 2020) (noting that, of the 294
employers to have received COVID-related citations, 261 were
employers in the healthcare sector). As such, the COVID-related
citations are consistent with OSHA’s other actions during the
pandemic that have prioritized healthcare workers—namely, its
issuance of an emergency temporary standard (“ETS,” discussed at
greater length below) governing the health and safety of healthcare
and healthcare support workers. These healthcare-focused actions,
therefore, do not necessarily suggest that OSHA’s expertise would
materially aid the court in resolving the issues relating to JFK8.
Indeed, no OSHA action to date, nor any executive order
concerning worker health and safety, confirms that deferring to
OSHA would be appropriate. On January 21, 2021, President Biden
issued a proclamation directing OSHA to issue revised guidance for
employers during the COVID-19 pandemic and to “consider whether
any emergency temporary standards on COVID-19 . . . are necessary.”
39 Proclamation No. 13999, 86 Fed. Reg. 7,211, § 2(b) (Jan. 21, 2021). In
response, OSHA issued the following in January 2021: (1) guidance
clarifying that OSHA’s existing standards that protect workers from
infectious diseases—see, e.g., 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.134 (standard for
respiratory protection), 1910.136 (standard for personal protective
equipment), 1910.141 (standard for sanitation)—remain in place as
protection from contracting and spreading COVID-19, see Dep’t of
Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Admin., Protecting Workers:
Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the
Workplace (posted Jan. 29, 2021) (updated June 10, 2021),
https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/safework; and (2) an ETS “to
protect healthcare and healthcare support service workers from
occupational exposure to COVID-19,” 86 Fed. Reg. 32,376, 32,376. On
November 5, 2021, OSHA issued another ETS, one aimed at
protecting “unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more
employees) from the risk of contracting COVID-19 by strongly
40 encouraging vaccination.” 3 86 Fed. Reg. 61,402, 61,402. The Supreme
Court temporarily stayed the latter ETS on January 13, 2022, see Nat’l
Fed’n of Indep. Bus. v. Dep’t of Labor, 142 S. Ct. 661, 666–67 (2022), and
shortly thereafter, OSHA withdrew it, see 87 Fed. Reg. 3,928.
Although OSHA has since rescinded the November 2021
vaccination and testing ETS, Amazon argues that “even if the ETS
never takes effect, it still represents an unambiguous assertion of
OSHA’s expertise and jurisdiction over the health-and-safety issues
at issue here.” Amazon 28(j) Ltr. at 2 (Jan. 20, 2022). And that “[e]ven
if the ETS currently lacks preemptive force,” the OSH Act still
preempts Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 200 claim. Id. We disagree.
With the ETS rescinded, there is no risk that, by resolving
Plaintiffs’ claims, a court would be wading into an area already
3OSHA issued the vaccination and testing ETS after President Biden urged the agency to promulgate an emergency temporary standard requiring “all employers with 100 or more employees . . . to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.” President Joseph Biden, Remarks on Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic (Sept. 9, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/09/09/ remarks-by-president-biden-on-fighting-the-covid-19-pandemic-3/.
41 occupied by OSHA. And even had OSHA not rescinded the ETS,
there is no reason to think that the agency was poised to
“unambiguous[ly] assert[]” jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims, which
concern, among other things, social distancing and sick leave. Indeed,
the rescinded ETS limited itself to vaccination. Accordingly, even if
OSHA were to indicate that it was on the verge of re-entering the fray
on vaccination, that would hardly lead to the conclusion that the
agency was planning to go so far as to regulate sick leave, social
distancing, or any other areas implicated by Plaintiffs’ claims. Under
these circumstances, we conclude that OSHA’s particular expertise
would not materially aid the resolution of Plaintiffs’ claims.
c. There is no substantial danger of inconsistent rulings
Because OSHA has chosen not to promulgate a cross-industry,
COVID-19-specific standard that would govern the facts of this case,
our conclusion that the primary jurisdiction doctrine does not apply
presents no substantial danger of inconsistent rulings. “Federal
42 regulation of the workplace [under the OSH Act] was not intended to
be all encompassing.” Gade v. Nat’l Solid Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n, 505 U.S.
88, 96 (1992). Instead, “Congress expressly saved two areas from
federal pre-emption”: (1) “Section 4(b)(4) of the OSH Act states that
the Act does not . . . ‘enlarge or diminish or affect in any other manner
the common law or statutory rights, duties, or liabilities of employers
and employees under any law with respect to injuries, diseases, or
death of employees arising out of, or in the course of, employment,’”
id. (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(4)); and (2) “Section 18(a) provides that
the Act does not ‘prevent any State agency or court from asserting
jurisdiction under State law over any occupational safety or health
issue with respect to which no [federal] standard is in effect.’” Id. at
96–97 (quoting 29 U.S.C. § 667(a)).
There are no federal standards in effect governing the COVID-
19 protocols at JFK8 that Plaintiffs challenge in their amended
complaint. And even where there may be some overlap between
43 agency and court action, overlap alone does not justify invoking the
primary jurisdiction doctrine, see Goya Foods, 846 F.2d at 850
(concluding that “the pendency of a [Patent and Trademark Office]
proceeding was not a proper basis to forestall [the plaintiff’s]
lawsuit”), especially where the agency’s organic statute permits a
parallel enforcement scheme, as is the case here with the OSH Act, see,
e.g., Nader, 426 U.S. at 299–302 (concluding that the common law tort
action for fraudulent misrepresentation and the Federal Aviation Act
“are not ‘absolutely inconsistent’ and may coexist”).
Moreover, even if OSHA’s vaccination and testing ETS were
still in effect, that ETS would not alter this conclusion, as a state
occupational safety or health standard is only preempted to the extent
that it is “inconsistent” and “relate[s] to the issues addressed by [the]
ETS.” 86 Fed. Reg. 61,402, 61,505. As the ETS said, “[s]tate and local
requirements that ban or otherwise limit workplace vaccination, face
covering, or testing clearly ‘relate’ to the occupational safety and
44 health ‘issues’ that OSHA is regulating in this ETS.” 86 Fed. Reg.
61,402, 61,508; see also Gade, 505 U.S. at 99 (“The principal indication
that Congress intended to pre-empt state law is § 18(b)’s statement
that a State ‘shall’ submit a plan if it wishes to ‘assume responsibility’
for ‘development and enforcement . . . of occupational safety and
health standards relating to any occupational safety or health issue
with respect to which a Federal standard has been promulgated.’”
(emphasis added)). Plaintiffs’ claims do not relate to those issues.
Accordingly, there is no substantial risk of inconsistent rulings.
d. Plaintiffs have not made a prior application to the agency
Finally, while not determinative, the fact that Plaintiffs have
made no prior application to OSHA weighs against applying the
doctrine of primary jurisdiction. “If prior application to the agency is
present, this factor provides support for the conclusion that the
doctrine of primary jurisdiction is appropriate.” Ellis, 443 F.3d at 89
(emphasis added); see also Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe of Indians, 39
45 F.3d at 60 (concluding deferral to the agency was “fully warranted . . .
where the plaintiff has already invoked the BIA’s authority”). Thus,
“if prior application to the agency is absent, this factor may weigh
against referral of the matter to the agency.” Ellis, 443 F.3d at 89
(emphasis added); see also Schiller, 449 F.3d at 295 (noting how,
ordinarily, the fact that “the party challenging the agency action . . .
made no prior application to the agency,” would “weigh against
primary jurisdiction”). The fourth Ellis factor, in other words, seeks
to accomplish one of the doctrine’s central aims: “to ensure that courts
and agencies with concurrent jurisdiction over a matter do not work
at cross-purposes.” Fulton Cogeneration Assocs., 84 F.3d at 97. Here,
there is no pending proceeding before the agency, and there is no
indication that the agency is poised to take up the specific questions
before us, meaning that there is minimal, if any, concern that a court
will resolve Plaintiffs’ claims and fashion a remedy in a way that
would work at a “cross-purpose” with OSHA’s actions.
46 2. Balancing the advantages and the costs
In deciding whether to apply the primary jurisdiction doctrine,
we must also “balance the advantages of applying the doctrine
against the potential costs resulting from complications and delay in
the administrative proceedings.” Ellis, 443 F.3d at 83 (internal
quotation marks omitted). We conclude that the potential costs
would outweigh the advantages. Given OSHA’s understandable
prioritization during the COVID-19 pandemic of the healthcare sector
and the issuance of nationwide mandates such as vaccination
requirements for certain private employers, it is not apparent that
OSHA is likely, as a policy matter, to shift gears and prioritize
developing more general workplace COVID-19 safety standards—
much less standards that would provide meaningful guidance with
respect to Amazon’s JFK8 facility. We discern that abstention in favor
of action by OSHA has the potential to delay this litigation, without
any likelihood of countervailing advantages.
In sum, we conclude that the district court erred in abstaining
47 based on the primary jurisdiction doctrine.
C. Plaintiffs do not plausibly plead a special injury to support a public nuisance claim against Amazon
The district court properly dismissed Plaintiffs’ public nuisance
claim because Plaintiffs fail to allege special injury. Under New York
law, “[a] cause of action for public nuisance ‘exists for conduct that
amounts to a substantial interference with the exercise of a common
right,’ such as ‘endangering’ the ‘health[ or] safety . . . of a
considerable number of persons.’” Benoit, 959 F.3d at 504 (quoting
532 Madison Ave., 96 N.Y.2d at 292). A private person has a cause of
action for public nuisance “only if it is shown that the person suffered
special injury beyond that suffered by the community at large.” Id. at
505 (internal quotation marks omitted). “The injury must be different
in ‘kind,’ not simply ‘degree.’” Id. (quoting 532 Madison Ave., 96
N.Y.2d at 293–94). It therefore is not enough that a private person
“has suffered the same kind of harm or interference but to a greater
extent or degree.” Am. Elec. Power Co., 582 F.3d at 367 (quoting
48 Restatement (Second) Torts § 812C, cmt. b). The Restatement
(Second) of Torts provides helpful insight into the rule that a private
person must suffer a special injury to state a claim for public nuisance.
Comment a to Section 821C states that “it is uniformly agreed that a
private individual has no tort action for the invasion of the purely
public right, unless his damage is to be distinguished from that
sustained by other members of the public.”
Plaintiffs argue that “Amazon’s maintenance of an unsafe work
environment causes a different kind of harm to Plaintiffs because it is
a direct affront to their health and safety in their homes and
workplaces.” Plaintiffs Br. at 34. Plaintiffs contend that, unlike
members of the public at large, who can protect themselves from the
virus by avoiding public places, they lack the autonomy to avoid the
reach of Amazon’s conduct since they cannot avoid JFK8 or their
homes. According to Plaintiffs, they have “no meaningful choice but
to subject themselves to Amazon’s misconduct.” Id. at 38.
49 Amazon counters with the argument that “everyone in New
York who goes to work, the grocery store, or anywhere else risks
being ‘directly exposed’ to COVID-19. The physical, emotional, and
financial harms visited on New York by the virus are common to the
entire community, not unique to Plaintiffs.” Amazon Br. at 40. And
with respect to the Non-Employee Plaintiffs, Amazon argues that
they experience the “same kind of risk that all New Yorkers face when
a family member interacts with others in the community, either by
going to work, shopping at a grocery store, or having a service
technician or other person visit their home.” Id. at 41. Although we
do not discount the risks Plaintiffs allege they face nor the harms
Plaintiffs allege they experience, we agree with Amazon that
Plaintiffs’ alleged harms are different in degree, not in kind, and so
do not make out the requisite special injury to state a claim for public
nuisance. 4
4 To claim that their harm is different in kind and not merely degree,
50 Similarly, Plaintiffs’ allegations that they have suffered
financial losses, including lost wages, because they have avoided
work as a result of Amazon’s workplace safety practices, fail to meet
the special injury requirement. Again, because of the pandemic, the
public at large has suffered the same kind of harm—often devastating
financial losses—that Plaintiffs allege. In fact, Plaintiffs agree that
“the New York economy has been hard-hit by the pandemic.” App’x
at 82. Like Plaintiffs, many other residents of New York have forgone
attending work because of a generalized risk of contracting COVID-
Plaintiffs rely on the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Ileto v. Glock, 349 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir. 2003). Plaintiffs Br. at 37. There, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that they “suffered an injury, namely trauma resulting from an assault with a gun and gun shot wounds, different in kind” from the injuries experienced by the general public. Ileto, 349 F.3d at 1212 (internal quotation marks omitted). Plaintiffs’ reliance on Ileto is misplaced. As shooting victims, the Ileto plaintiffs alleged harms (gunshot wounds and trauma) different in kind from the generalized fear and anxiety the plaintiffs alleged that the public experienced following the shooting. Id. at 1211–12. Without expressing any view on the correctness of the Ninth Circuit’s decision, we conclude that Plaintiffs here have not alleged any analogous harm. Regardless of whether a person works at JFK8, is a member of a JFK8 employee’s household, or is a member of the public at large, the alleged harm remains the same: an interference with one’s health and safety— whether through contracting the virus or through fear of contracting the virus.
51 19. And as New York courts have made clear, when “pecuniary
damages are ‘so general and widespread as to affect a whole
community, or a very wide area within it,’” that injury is the same in
kind. 532 Madison Ave., 96 N.Y.2d at 293.
Plaintiffs compare their situation to that of the plaintiff-
homeowners in Fresh Air for the Eastside, Inc. v. Waste Mgmt. of New
York, 405 F. Supp. 3d 408 (W.D.N.Y. 2019), who owned property near
a noxious landfill. See Plaintiffs Br. 34. Plaintiffs effectively assert that
their inability to avoid their workplaces and their homes is akin to the
Fresh Air plaintiffs’ “inability to fully utilize their homes” and the
diminution in value of their homes resulting from living adjacent to a
noxious landfill. 405 F. Supp. 3d at 442. But in the case of the noxious
landfill, the plaintiffs’ special injury arose from the landfill’s
interference with their property rights, not from a lack of autonomy
over leaving their homes. Id. Here, the public at large shares in the
risk of contracting COVID-19, regardless of property ownership and
52 employment. As the district court correctly concluded, the general
public cannot avoid the risk of exposure to COVID-19 “simply by
avoiding JFK8, its immediate surrounding area, and its employees.”
App’x at 140.
To be sure, in Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co, Inc., our
Court suggested that “[d]ifference in degree . . . as a measure of a
different kind of harm, is not entirely out of the picture.” 582 F.3d at
368. This statement relied on comment c to § 821C of the Restatement
(Second) of Torts, which provides that “[d]ifference in degree of
interference cannot . . . be entirely disregarded in determining
whether there has been difference in kind.” The comment provides
an example:
Normally there may be no difference in the kind of interference with one who travels a road once a week and one who travels it every day. But if the plaintiff traverses the road a dozen times a day he nearly always has some special reason to do so, and that reason will almost invariably be based upon some special interest of his own, not common to the community. Significant interference with that interest may be particular damage,
53 sufficient to support the action in tort. . . . Thus in determining whether there is a difference in the kind of harm, the degree of interference may be a factor of importance that must be considered.
But in American Electric Power Co. we did not need to “demarcate the
outer limits of § 821C(1)’s requirement that the harms be different in
kind (sometimes called ‘special injury’), because the harms asserted
by the [plaintiffs] qualif[ied]” as a special injury (i.e., a harm that was
different in kind). 582 F.3d at 368. We thus did not go so far as to hold
that the degree of a plaintiff’s harm plays a part in determining
whether that harm is different in kind. And because Plaintiffs’
asserted injury from COVID-19 exposure is not so markedly greater
in degree than that faced by large numbers of the public, we likewise
decline to reach that question today.
D. The New York Workers’ Compensation Law does not bar claims for injunctive relief under NYLL § 200
Amazon argues that the New York Workers’ Compensation
Law (“NYWCL”) precludes Plaintiffs’ claims for injunctive relief
under New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) § 200. We disagree.
54 The New York Court of Appeals has not yet had the
opportunity to decide this question of New York law, so our task is to
predict how it would rule. See In re Brooklyn Navy Yard Asbestos Litig.,
971 F.2d 831, 850 (2d Cir. 1992). And where the highest court of the
state has not spoken, “the best indicators of how it would decide are
often the decisions of lower state courts.” Id. Here, the text, history,
and underlying purposes of the NYWCL, coupled with relevant
precedent from New York’s intermediate courts, enable us to predict
what the New York Court of Appeals would hold: the NYWCL’s
exclusivity provision does not bar claims for injunctive relief under
NYLL § 200.
Construing New York law, “[o]ur analysis begins with the
language of the statute.” People v. Francis, 30 N.Y.3d 737, 745 (2018).
In addition to statutory language itself, the specific context in which
statutory language is used and the broader context of the statute as a
whole assist the court in ascertaining the text’s plain meaning. See
55 Scott v. Mass. Mut. Life Ins. Co., 86 N.Y.2d 429, 435 (1995); see also
Albano v. Kirby, 36 N.Y.2d 526, 530 (1975) (“No rule of construction . . .
permits the segregation of a few words from their context and from
all the rest of the section or rule . . . .”). And “[l]iteral meanings of
words are not to be adhered to or suffered to ‘defeat the general
purpose and manifest policy intended to be promoted’” by a given
statute. Council of City of New York v. Giuliani, 93 N.Y.2d 60, 69 (1999)
(quoting People v. Ryan, 274 N.Y. 149, 152 (1937)).
In this case, we must ascertain the plain meaning of both NYLL
§ 200 and NYWCL § 11. NYLL § 200 outlines the general duty of
employers to safeguard their employees’ well-being by providing
“reasonable and adequate protection to [their] lives, health and
safety” in the workplace. As NYLL § 200 is “a codification of the
common-law duty to provide workers with a safe work
environment,” it essentially codifies a claim for common law
negligence. Everitt, 285 A.D.2d at 443; In re World Trade Ctr. Lower
56 Manhattan Disaster Site Litig., 758 F.3d at 210 (“Codifying common law
negligence, New York Labor Law § 200 provides for a general duty to
protect the health and safety of employees.”).
The NYWCL focuses on monetary compensation for workers’
injuries. Section 10 requires that an employer “secure compensation
to his employees and pay or provide compensation for their disability
or death from injury arising out of and in the course of the
employment.” And section 11 clarifies that this liability “shall be
exclusive and in place of any other liability whatsoever, to such
employee . . . entitled to recover damages, contribution or indemnity,
at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury or death or
liability arising therefrom . . . .”
To argue that the NYWCL bars Plaintiffs’ claims, Amazon relies
on the language in NYWCL § 11 providing that the law is exclusive
of “any other liability whatsoever.” This language, Amazon
contends, illustrates that section 11 protects “employers from suit,”
57 including suits in both law and equity. Amazon Br. at 48 (internal
quotation marks omitted). Plaintiffs, on the other hand, interpret the
exclusivity provision to preclude employees from seeking damages,
but not injunctive relief, from employers under NYLL § 200. 5
The text of NYWCL § 11 supports Plaintiffs’ interpretation.
Namely, the language Amazon cites—“any other liability
whatsoever”—cannot be divorced from the monetary awards listed
later in the same sentence: “damages, contribution, or indemnity.”
N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 11 (McKinney 2017); see Albano, 36
N.Y.2d at 530; see also King v. Time Warner Cable Inc., 894 F.3d 473, 477
(2d Cir. 2018) (“[W]ords to be interpreted are not considered in
isolation.”); City of New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., 524 F.3d 384, 401
(2d Cir. 2008) (“[W]here specific words follow a general word, the
5 As a threshold matter, we do not find it necessary to separate Plaintiffs’ arguments under NYLL § 200 into distinct backward- and forward-looking claims. Plaintiffs asked the district court to enjoin Amazon from continuing with its alleged breach of duty under NYLL § 200. That Plaintiffs cite both past and ongoing conduct to support their need for injunctive relief does not require us to split their single claim in two.
58 specific words restrict application of the general term to things that
are similar to those enumerated.” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
That list of monetary awards confirms that the “liability” referenced
in the NYWCL’s exclusivity provision is confined to claims for
retrospective damages and does not encompass claims for injunctive
relief.
The NYWCL’s legislative history and New York appellate court
cases further demonstrate that the NYWCL seeks to balance the
monetary interests of employers and employees, while the NYLL
focuses more on regulating employers’ conduct. See, e.g., Acevedo v.
Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc., 189 A.D.2d 497, 502–03 (1st
Dep’t 1993) (“The courts of this state have long held that, if an injury
or disease is covered in any way by Workers’ Compensation, recovery
at law for a particular type of damage resulting from that injury or
disease, even though not compensable, will also be barred.”
(emphasis added)); Huston v. Hayden Bldg. Maintenance Corp., 205
59 A.D.2d 68, 71 (2d Dep’t 1994) (“In our view the primary purpose of
the [NYLL] is to regulate conduct.”).
The NYWCL was adopted pursuant to a 1913 amendment to
New York’s constitution, which provided that the legislature could
“fix the right to compensation to be paid by an employer for death
resulting to an employee for injuries received in the course of his
employment,” and that “the right of such compensation, and the
remedy therefor shall be exclusive of all other rights and remedies.”
Shanahan v. Monarch Eng’g Co., 219 N.Y. 469, 475–76 (1916) (quoting
1913 constitutional amendment). When promulgating the NYWCL,
the New York legislature thereby created a scheme in which both
employer and employee “gained benefits and made concessions.” Id.
at 478.
As part of this tradeoff, the employee receives “the security of
knowing that fixed benefits will be paid,” but forgoes the possibility
of “a more substantial recovery through a jury award.” Dumervil v.
60 Port Auth. of N.Y. & N.J., 163 A.D.3d 628, 629 (2d Dep’t 2018). The
employer is on the hook for “no-fault liability,” but is protected from
the “large damage verdicts which the statute was intended to
foreclose.” Reich v. Manhattan Boiler & Equip. Corp., 91 N.Y.2d 772, 780
(1998); see also Shanahan, 219 N.Y. at 477 (noting that part of the
tradeoff between employers and employees includes an employer not
needing to defend against “unjust or excessive claims”).
In other words, the legislature was concerned primarily with
the predictability of monetary compensation when adopting the
NYWCL. See Werner v. State, 53 N.Y.2d 346, 353 (1981) (“[T]he
obvious purpose of those provisions [is] to foreclose the possibility of
duplicative recoveries.”). 6 Had the legislature intended to extend the
NYWCL’s exclusivity provision to injunctive relief as well, it could
6 Here, there is no risk of duplicative recoveries because the Workmen’s Compensation Board cannot issue the remedy Plaintiffs seek—an injunction compelling Amazon to cease the conduct alleged as jeopardizing the health and safety of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. See N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 142 (outlining the Board’s “[g]eneral powers and duties”).
61 have so provided, and so altered the tradeoff for both employers and
employees. In the absence of such a statement from the legislature,
however, we decline to extend the exclusivity provision’s reach.
E. COVID-19 leave payments are not “wages” under NYLL § 191
Lastly, Plaintiffs cannot state a claim for a violation of NYLL
§ 191 because, as the district court correctly concluded, COVID-19
leave payments are not “wages” as defined by § 191.
NYLL § 191 outlines the frequency with which an employer
shall pay an employee “wages.” Wages are defined as “the earnings
of an employee for labor or services rendered, regardless of whether
the amount of earnings is determined on a time, piece, commission or
other basis.” N.Y. Lab. Law § 190(1) (McKinney 2008). For purposes
of NYLL § 191, the term “wages” does not include “benefits or wage
supplements.” Id. Benefits or wage supplements include
“reimbursement for expenses; health, welfare, and retirement
benefits; and vacation, separation or holiday pay.” Id. § 198-c(2),
62 preempted on other grounds by 75 A.D.3d 755 (3d Dep’t 2010). And New
York’s Leave Law “provid[es] requirements for sick leave and the
provision of certain employee benefits when such employee is subject
to a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due
to COVID-19.” 2020 N.Y. Sess. Laws ch. 25, § 1.1.(a) (McKinney).
Plaintiffs argue that excepting COVID-19 sick leave from NYLL
§ 191’s “frequency-of-pay provisions” for wages would undermine
the Leave Law’s purpose because the “[p]romise of wages at some
unspecified future date is unlikely to convince a potentially infected
worker to self-isolate if that worker is subsisting week-to-week.”
Plaintiffs Br. at 52. But the New York legislature, well aware that
NYLL § 191 explicitly excludes benefits or wage supplements from its
provisions, described the purpose of the Leave Law as “providing
requirements for sick leave and the provision of certain employee
benefits.” 2020 N.Y. Laws 8091.
Moreover, COVID-19 sick leave need not be subject to NYLL
63 § 191’s pay frequency requirements to serve as an “effective tool[] at
protecting public health.” Plaintiffs Br. at 51. Plaintiffs still have a
form of redress available under the Leave Law: they can file a
complaint with the New York Department of Labor (the “NYDOL”).
N.Y. State, Dep’t of Labor, COVID-19 Complaint,
https://forms.ny.gov/s3/Department-of-Labor-COVID-19-Complaint
(last visited October 14, 2022).
Plaintiffs next assert that COVID-19 sick leave payments are
“wages” for purposes of NYLL § 191 because the pay is a statutory
entitlement rather than an “ancillary benefit or wage supplement”
created by employment contract. Plaintiffs Br. at 54. As we explained
in Myers v. Hertz Corp., however, “plaintiffs may not use Labor Law
§ 191 to seek unpaid wages to which they claim to be entitled under a
statute; rather § 191 guarantees only that the wages the employer and
employee have ‘agreed’ upon be paid in a ‘timely’ manner again
according to the ‘terms of [the employee’s] employment.” 624 F.3d
64 537, 545 n.1 (2d Cir. 2010) (quoting N.Y. Lab. Law § 191).
We also reject Plaintiffs’ contention that the district court
improperly ignored the NYDOL’s Frequently Asked Questions (the
“FAQ”) concerning COVID-19 sick leave. In pertinent part, the FAQ
explains that “[t]he paid COVID-19 sick leave payments are subject to
the frequency of pay requirements of Section 191.” N.Y. State, New
York Paid Family Leave COVID-19: Frequently Asked Questions
[hereinafter Paid Family Leave FAQs],
https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/new-york-paid-family-leave-covid-
19-faqs (last visited October 14, 2022). Plaintiffs apparently take this
to mean that COVID-19 sick leave payments are wages for purposes
of NYLL § 191. But as the State of New York explained in its amicus
brief, that FAQ is not guidance regarding NYLL § 191, but more a
“shorthand to explain that the new quarantine leave payments should
be made on the same schedule and in the same manner as wages
subject to Labor Law § 191.” State of New York, Amicus Curiae Br. at
65 24.
Even if the NYDOL’s FAQ page were a more formal,
authoritative agency pronouncement entitled to deference, it more
strongly suggests that COVID-19 leave payments are benefits, not
wages. The FAQ does not state that Leave Law payments are
“wages” as defined by § 191. Nor does the FAQ advise that an
employer violates § 191 if it fails to make Leave Law payments per
§ 191’s schedule. Rather, the FAQ suggests that COVID-19 leave
payments are benefits. In the very same FAQ upon which Plaintiffs
rely, the NYDOL titles a section “Benefits” and repeatedly uses the
word thereafter to explain what pay an individual is entitled to under
the Leave Law when subject to an order of quarantine or isolation.
See, e.g., Paid Family Leave FAQs (“How does this affect NY’s COVID-
19 quarantine leave benefits? . . . NY’s COVID-19 quarantine leave
benefits are only available during the order of quarantine or isolation.
. . . This new law provides benefits in cases where an individual is
66 under an order of quarantine – either mandatory or
precautionary. . . .” (emphasis added)).
Furthermore, in describing COVID-19 workplace regulations,
the NYDOL states the following:
Former Governor Cuomo enacted a law that provides benefits – including sick leave, paid family leave, and disability benefits – to New York employees impacted by the mandatory or precautionary orders of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19. These benefits do not have an expiration date. If your employer does not comply with this law, you have the right to file a complaint.
N.Y. State, Dep’t of Labor, COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave,
https://dol.ny.gov (last visited October 14, 2022).
An agency’s interpretation of a statute “is entitled to great
deference, particularly when that interpretation has been followed
consistently over a long period of time.” United States v. Clark, 454
U.S. 555, 565 (1982). As the district court explained, the NYDOL has
consistently instructed that paid sick leave is a “benefit[]” and that
there is “‘no “correct” or prescribed method’ of provision or
payment.” App’x at 149–50.
67 Finally, Plaintiffs do not perform any labor at JFK8 while under
mandatory or precautionary COVID-19 quarantine or isolation.
Therefore, the payments Plaintiffs are entitled to receive under the
Leave Law cannot be “wages” under NYLL § 191. See N.Y. Lab. Law
§ 190(1) (defining “wages” as “earnings for labor or services
rendered”). And because payments provided for under the Leave
Law are not “wages” for purposes of NYLL § 191, Plaintiffs do not
have a claim under NYLL § 191 for Amazon’s alleged violations of the
Leave Law.
III. CONCLUSION
In sum, we hold as follows:
(1) Plaintiffs’ public nuisance and NYLL § 200 claims are not
moot.
(2) The doctrine of primary jurisdiction does not apply to
Plaintiffs’ public nuisance or NYLL § 200 claims.
68 (3) Plaintiffs fail to state a claim for public nuisance under
New York law because they do not allege a special injury.
(4) Section 11 of the New York Workers’ Compensation Law
does not preclude injunctive relief under NYLL § 200.
(5) Leave Law payments are not “wages” for purposes of
NYLL § 191.
We therefore AFFIRM the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’
public nuisance claim and NYLL § 191 claims for damages and
injunctive relief; and we VACATE the district court’s dismissal of
Plaintiffs’ NYLL § 200 claim seeking a declaratory judgment and
injunctive relief and REMAND to the district court for further
proceedings on that claim.
69 DENNY CHIN, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree with the majority's holdings that (1) Plaintiffs' public
nuisance and New York Labor Law ("NYLL") § 200 claims are not moot, (2) the
primary jurisdiction doctrine does not apply to those claims, (3) § 11 of the New
York Workers' Compensation Law does not preclude injunctive relief under
NYLL § 200, and (4) COVID-19 sick leave payments are not "wages" under NYLL
§ 191. I respectfully dissent, however, from the majority's conclusion that the
district court properly dismissed Plaintiffs' public nuisance claim. I would find
that the harm Plaintiffs faced was different in kind -- not just degree -- from that
faced by the community at large. Accordingly, I would conclude that Plaintiffs
adequately pleaded special injury to support their public nuisance claim.
Under New York law, "[a] cause of action for public nuisance 'exists
for conduct that amounts to a substantial interference with the exercise of a
common right,' such as 'endangering' the 'health or safety of a considerable
number of persons.'" Benoit v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 959 F.3d
491, 504 (2d Cir. 2020) (alterations omitted) (quoting 532 Madison Ave. Gourmet
Foods, Inc. v. Finlandia Ctr., Inc., 96 N.Y.2d 280, 292 (2001)). "A 'public nuisance is
actionable by a private person only if it is shown that the person suffered special injury beyond that suffered by the community at large.'" Id. at 505 (quoting 532
Madison Ave. Gourmet Foods, Inc., 96 N.Y.2d at 292). "The injury must be different
in 'kind,' not simply 'degree.'" Id. (quoting 532 Madison Ave. Gourmet Foods, Inc.,
96 N.Y.2d at 294); see Connecticut v. Am. Elec. Power Co., Inc., 582 F.3d 309, 367 (2d
Cir. 2009) ("It is not enough that he has suffered the same kind of harm or
interference but to a greater extent or degree."), rev'd on other grounds, 564 U.S.
410 (2011). As the majority acknowledges, however, a “[d]ifference in degree of
interference cannot . . . be entirely disregarded in determining whether there has
been difference in kind.” Restatement (Second) of Torts § 821C, cmt. c.
The majority observes that because all New Yorkers faced the risk of
contracting COVID-19, any injury suffered by Plaintiffs is one of a difference
only in degree, not in kind. I disagree. Plaintiffs are not alleging that the
generalized risk of contracting COVID-19 constitutes a public nuisance, but
rather that Amazon's conduct created a public nuisance that disproportionately
injured them. First, Plaintiffs faced heightened COVID-19 risks due to the
conditions of their employment. Second, they risked financial losses if they
dared to mitigate those conditions. The harms here -- employment conditions
and financial losses -- are different in kind from those the public faced because
2 the community at large was not subjected to the conditions that the workers at
JFK8 endured. The public at large did not even enter JFK8.
As alleged in the amended complaint (and assumed to be true for
purposes of this appeal), Plaintiffs faced conditions that significantly increased
their risk of contracting COVID-19 and were forced to face these heightened risks
under threat of discipline or termination. Amazon's demanding productivity
requirements at JFK8, an 840,000 square foot fulfillment center on Staten Island, 1
prevented workers from engaging in social distancing or basic hygiene and
sanitation practices. See, e.g., J. App'x at 108 ¶ 250 (workers "fear taking the time
to clean their stations for fear it will result in a writeup for [productivity] issues);
id. at 109 ¶ 253 (because of changes to employee break schedules, "bathroom
lines and break rooms are more crowded during the break time").
Moreover, Amazon implemented a contact-tracing plan that was
effectively inoperative, discouraged employees from informing their colleagues
if they had tested positive, and penalized workers who raised concerns about the
lack of COVID-19 safety protocols at the warehouse. See, e.g., J. App'x at 111
1 JFK8 operates 24 hours, seven days a week. On average, there are approximately 3,500 workers at one time, but during peak seasons around the holidays or Amazon Prime Day in July, this number can increase to 5,000 workers. See J. App'x at 88 ¶ 86; 127-28. 3 ¶ 280 (Amazon's contact tracing system consisted "entirely of reviewing
surveillance footage to monitor the workplace contacts of workers diagnosed
with COVID-19"); id. at 113 ¶ 290 (workers who tested positive were discouraged
from telling their coworkers and were given no guidance on how to "monitor
their health at home, quarantine when not at work, or to seek medical advice").
Though Amazon suspended the tracking requirements for the "total time off
task" ("TOT") system in March 2020, workers were not informed until July 2020.
See id. at 106 ¶¶ 232-33 (Amazon instructed managers "not to post the talking
points [about the change in TOT rate enforcement] publicly"). Until then, the
strict TOT system and the risk of termination forced Plaintiffs to continue
working in conditions that rendered them particularly susceptible to COVID-19.
See, e.g., id. at 107 ¶ 238 (the TOT system "forced [workers] to work at a frenzied
pace"); id. at 108 ¶ 245 (the productivity requirements "discourage[d] workers
from leaving their workstations to wash their hands and from taking the time to
wipe down their workstations").
Plaintiffs plausibly alleged that the threat of discipline or
termination if they failed to meet their productivity requirements kept them
confined to the hazardous environment inside JFK8. Warehouse workers were at
4 particular risk of contracting COVID-19. First, warehouses often contained
thousands of employees working in "cramped or tight spaces" at high work rates
and talking at elevated volumes to overcome the din of machinery. Br. of Amici
Curiae Occupational Health Physicians et al. in support of Plaintiff-Appellants
("Br. of Amici Curiae") at 3-4. Such conditions increased the risk of transmission
of an airborne virus such as COVID-19 because employees were discouraged
from leaving their workstations to sanitize themselves after each potential
exposure. Id. This heightened risk was exacerbated where, as here, workers
were deprived of preventative safety measures and were unable to easily access
sick leave, resulting in an increased risk of infecting their coworkers and families.
Plaintiffs lacked the autonomy to avoid the hazardous conditions
arising from Amazon's conduct. And unlike many members of the public,
Plaintiffs were not permitted to work remotely. If anything, because the demand
for packages increased during the pandemic, they had even less flexibility in that
respect. See, e.g., J. App'x at 88 ¶ 87 (Amazon said it hired 175,000 new workers
in April 2020, many of whom were "temporary workers hired to meet increased
demand during the pandemic").
5 At the end of each nearly 11-hour shift working under these
conditions, Plaintiffs would then take the increased risk of infection home to
their families. While Amazon may have created an indirect harm to the public in
the form of community spread, its practices directly endangered Plaintiffs in the
workplace and further endangered the communities with whom Plaintiffs
interacted. See Br. of Amici Curiae at 24. Plaintiffs Chandler and Bernard
contracted COVID-19 while working at JFK8, and Chandler's cousin, with whom
she lived, died during that time from the disease. The physical and emotional
injuries that followed were distinct from those the community faced because
they arose proximately from Amazon's conduct.
Plaintiffs also suffered economic harm not suffered by members of
the public because they faced loss of pay and sick leave. See, e.g., J. App'x at 92
¶¶ 120-24 (workers felt "increased pressure to attend work while sick" because
they feared losing the opportunity to accrue limited unpaid leave time); id. at 89
¶ 98 (Amazon retaliated against workers who spoke out about workplace safety
and COVID-19). New York courts have long recognized that economic harm can
be a sufficient special injury for a private plaintiff to maintain a public nuisance
claim. See 532 Madison Ave. Gourmet Foods, Inc., 96 N.Y.2d at 293 (private right of
6 action where public nuisance "had a devastating effect on [plaintiffs'] ability to
earn a living"). Further, "[o]n the matter of special damage . . . there is no
requirement that there be directness of such damage, or that there be any
particular quantum, before there is a right to a private remedy, such as
injunction." Graceland Corp. v. Consol. Laundries Corp., 180 N.Y.S.2d 644, 648
(1958), aff'd, 6 N.Y.2d 900 (1959). Defendants made it difficult for workers who
tested positive for COVID-19 to obtain sick leave and allegedly did not pay the
full amount of COVID-19 sick pay.
Constrained by the demanding requirements of the TOT system,
Plaintiffs were faced with an unenviable choice: continue working in a
dangerous and demanding work environment or avoid it to protect their health
but face a high likelihood of losing their jobs. Although it is true, as the majority
observes, that many New Yorkers suffered financial losses as a result of the
pandemic, the losses Plaintiffs allege are different in kind because they resulted
from Amazon's affirmative decisions not to implement any sufficient measures
to mitigate the high risk of COVID-19 transmission inherent in warehouse work.
See, e.g., Br. of Amici Curiae at 7 (due to "certain environmental design
characteristics that make social distancing difficult [in warehouses], . . . it [is] all
7 the more important that employers implement all mitigation measures to
prevent COVID-19 infection.").
Plaintiffs have thus plausibly pleaded special injury that they faced a
heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19 and threat of economic harm because
of conditions at JFK8. Thus, I would hold that the lower court erred in
dismissing Plaintiffs' public nuisance claim.
Related
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