White v. The NIF Corporation

Filing 19

ORDER denying 10 Motion to Dismiss. Signed by Chief Judge William H. Steele on 8/11/2015. (tgw)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
SOUTHERN DIVISION
KATHERINE WHITE, etc.,
Plaintiff,
v.
THE NIF CORPORATION, etc.,
Defendant.

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) CIVIL ACTION 15-322-WS-N
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ORDER

This matter is before the Court on the defendant’s motion to dismiss. (Doc.
10). The plaintiff filed a response, (Doc. 18), the defendant declined to file a
reply, (Doc. 11), and the motion is ripe for resolution.
The defendant asserts that the FLSA complaint fails to state a claim under
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), because it does not allege
“the hours [the plaintiff] worked per week” and does not allege “the amount of
unpaid wages she is owed.” (Doc. 9 at 2). She later claims the complaint is fatally
defective because it does not allege “the rate to be properly applied to such hours.”
(Id. at 3). The defendant relies on several lower court decisions from other
Circuits.
The Court need not review those opinions, because the Eleventh Circuit has
spoken. In Secretary of Labor v. Labbe, 319 Fed. Appx. 761 (11th Cir. 2008),
“[t]he complaint allege[d] that since June 16, 2002, [the defendant] repeatedly
violated stated provisions of the FLSA by failing to pay covered employees
minimum hourly wages and to compensate employees who worked in excess of
forty hours a week at the appropriate rates.” The Court held that, “[w]hile these
allegations are not overly detailed, we find that a claim for relief for failure to pay
minimum wage [or] to provide overtime compensation … under the FLSA does

not require more,” even in light of Twombly. Id. at 763-64. Sister courts within
the Eleventh Circuit have routinely applied Labbe in denying motions to dismiss
similarly worded FLSA claims.1 The complaint in this case alleges far more than
the minimum required by Rule 8(a), Twombly and Labbe. Accordingly, the
motion to dismiss is denied.
DONE and ORDERED this 11th day of August, 2015.
s/ WILLIAM H. STEELE
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

1

E.g., Johnson v. Titlemax, Inc., 2015 WL 5954393 (M.D. Ala. 2015); Hudgens
v. Wyndham Vacation Ownership, Inc., 2014 WL 5483231 (N.D. Fla. 2014); Wakeley v.
Useppa Inn and Dock Co., 2014 WL 1819411 (M.D. Fla. 2014) (Steele, J.); Houston v.
JT Private Duty Home Care, LLC, 2014 WL 485428 (M.D. Fla. 2014) (Chappell, J.);
Gonzalez v. TZ Insurance Solutions, LLC, 2014 WL 103524 (M.D. Fla. 2014)
(Covington, J.); Vestey v. Publix Super Markets, Inc., 2013 WL 5929061 (M.D. Fla.
2013) (Moody, J.); Castillo v. Groundlevel, Inc., 2013 WL 5499611 (M.D. Fla. 2013
(Whittemore, J.); Mitial v. Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, 2012 WL 2524272 (S.D. Fla.
2012); Dobbins v. Scriptfleet, Inc., 2012 WL 601145 (M.D. Fla. 2012) (Buckelew, J).
2