YANG v. VILLAGE SUPERMARKETS, INC. et al
Filing
155
OPINION. Signed by Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor on 4/3/2024. (qa, )
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
YING Y. YANG, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
Civil Action No.: 18-cv-10486-CLW
v.
VILLAGE SUPER MARKET, INC., et
al.,
OPINION
Defendants.
CATHY L. WALDOR, U.S.M.J.
I.
Introduction
This matter is before the Court on the motion of defendants Village Super Market, Inc.,
Village Super Market of NJ, L.P., Ronald L. Goley, Hua Huang, and Joaquim Batista (named
herein as Jack Batista) (collectively, “Defendants”) seeking partial summary judgment in
connection with the claims asserted against them by plaintiffs Ying Y. Yang (“Yang”), Chun T.
Lee (“Lee”), and Liping Sun (“Sun”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) (ECF No. 143). The motion is
fully briefed and decided without oral argument per FED. R. CIV. P. 78(b) and L. CIV. R. 78.1.
Upon careful consideration of the parties’ submissions and for the following reasons,
Defendants’ motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.
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II.
Background 1
Plaintiffs are former employees of Defendants. See Second Amended Complaint, ECF
No. 62 (the “SAC”) at ¶ 3. They each worked for Defendants as chefs: Yang from September
2016 to April 2018; Lee from June 2014 to March 2019; and Sun from March 2015 to November
2018. Id. at ¶¶ 32, 48, 50; see also Defendants’ Statement of Material Facts Not in Dispute
(“Defendants’ Statement”) (ECF No. 143-1) at ¶¶ 16, 18, 21; Plaintiffs’ Response to Defendants’
Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (“Plaintiffs’ Response”) (ECF No. 149-5) at ¶¶ 16, 18,
21. Yang and Sun were hired at $40,000 annual salaries; Lee at $750 weekly. Defendants’
Statement at ¶¶ 17, 19, 22; Plaintiffs’ Response at ¶¶ 17, 19, 22. Although Plaintiffs’ complaint
passingly references Defendants’ alleged violations of “multiple aspects of the federal and state
labor laws”, see SAC at ¶ 57, their two claims sound solely in alleged nonpayment of overtime
wages; namely, that Defendants failed to pay them one and one-half times their regular rates of
pay for each hour worked above forty in a given workweek, as required under the Fair Labor
Standards Act (the “FLSA”) and the New Jersey Wage & Hour Law (the “WHL”). See id. at ¶¶
59-68.
Defendants now move for summary judgment on three discrete issues. First, they seek to
bar as untimely any WHL and FLSA claims arising, respectively, more than two years and three
years before the filing of the lawsuit. Second, they ask for all claims accruing after January 1,
2018 to be dismissed, citing their compliance with overtime laws and full payment of overtime
This matter’s somewhat convoluted procedural history is not relevant to the present motion. Briefly
stated, Yang filed this lawsuit as a putative FLSA collective action in June 2018. ECF No. 1. Thereafter,
Yang amended his complaint; the District Court conditionally certified the FLSA collective; Plaintiffs
filed a second amended complaint; the FLSA collective was de-certified on consent; and all claims but
those belonging to Plaintiffs were dismissed without prejudice. See ECF No. 4, 28, 29, 45, 62, 99, 118.
The parties have consented to the undersigned’s jurisdiction to enter a final judgment per 28 U.S.C. §
636(c) and FED. R. CIV. P. 73. ECF No. 101.
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wages beginning at that time. Finally, they ask the Court to fix the method of calculation of any
unpaid overtime wages owed to Plaintiffs. In their opposition, Plaintiffs seek a finding that an
amendment to the WHL passed after their employment with Defendants may be applied
retroactively. The Court addresses these matters below.
III.
Legal Standard
Rule 56(a) provides that a “court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that
there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a
matter of law.” FED. R. CIV. P. 56(a). An issue of fact is material and genuine if it “‘affect[s] the
outcome of the suit under the governing law’ and could lead a reasonable jury to return a verdict
in favor of the nonmoving party.” Willis v. UPMC Children’s Hosp. of Pittsburgh, 808 F.3d 638,
643 (3d Cir. 2015) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S. Ct. 2505,
91 L. Ed. 2d 202 (1986)). The party seeking summary judgment “has the burden of
demonstrating that the evidentiary record presents no genuine issue of material fact.” Id. (citing
Simpson v. Kay Jewelers, Div. of Sterling, Inc., 142 F.3d 639, 643 n.3 (3d Cir. 1998)).
IV.
Analysis
a. Statutes of Limitation
The FLSA sets “a two-year statute of limitations for an employer’s violation of FLSA
standards unless the employer’s violation was ‘willful,’ in which case the statute of limitations is
three years.” Brock v. Richland Shoe Co., 799 F.2d 80, 81-82 (3d Cir. 1986), aff’d sub nom.
McLaughlin v. Richland Shoe Co., 486 U.S. 128, 108 S. Ct. 1677, 100 L. Ed. 2d 115 (1988)
(citing 29 U.S.C. § 255(a)). 2 The version of the WHL in effect at the time this action was filed
“Whether a violation of the FLSA is willful is a question of fact . . . .” Pignataro v. Port Auth. of N.Y. &
N.J., 593 F.3d 265, 273 (3d Cir. 2010) (citing Bianchi Trison Corp. v. Chao, 409 F.3d 196, 208 (3d Cir.
2005)).
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provided a two-year statute of limitations. See N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a25.1, notes to 2019 amendment
(noting August 2019 change from two-year to six-year limitations period). 3 Defendants therefore
ask that the Court set a cutoff date of three years before the June 12, 2018 filing of the action for
Plaintiffs’ FLSA claims and a two-year cutoff date for their WHL claims. Plaintiffs do not oppose
this request, which reflects a proper application of the relevant limitations periods. See, e.g., Jun
Yin v. Hanami Westwood, Inc., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180730, at *21 (D.N.J. Dec. 30, 2016)
(for FLSA claim, “the relevant time period is up to three years prior to the date of the filing of
the complaint”). Accordingly, the earliest date of employment for which Plaintiffs may recover
under the FLSA is June 12, 2015. The earliest date for recovery under the WHL is June 12, 2016.
b. Post-2018 Liability
Defendants seek to have the Court apply a January 1, 2018 cutoff date for Plaintiffs’
damages. They argue that beginning that date, they paid Plaintiffs on an hourly salary basis and
instituted overtime pay measures to ensure Plaintiffs were paid the proper premiums for all
overtime hours worked thereafter. They submit pay stubs, earnings registers, and payroll journals
reflecting such payments. See Defendants’ Certification (ECF No. 143-4) (“Def. Cert.”), Exhibits
11-19.
The Court finds Defendants’ evidence to be credible, reflective of the proper payment of
overtime wages beginning January 1, 2018, and unrefuted by Plaintiffs. The best Plaintiffs do is
stating that they “[c]annot deem [Defendants’ records] disputed or undisputed, as this is
Defendants’ internal record.” See Plaintiffs’ Response at ¶¶ 23-29. But the fact that Defendants’
evidence consists of Defendants’ “internal record[s]” does not undermine the credibility or
Plaintiffs do not argue, and the Court does not find, that Plaintiffs’ WHL claims — which relate to a
period of employment before the statutory amendment — should be subject to the six-year limitations
period.
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weight of that evidence. Plaintiffs further argue that they “did not receive proper notice about the
alleged change in pay rate or pay style” and that they did not receive paystubs reflecting the
change to their wages. Opp. at 6-8. As noted, though, Plaintiffs’ claims assert nonpayment of
overtime wages, not that Defendants failed to provide them wage notices. See SAC at ¶¶ 59-68
(claiming damages solely for unpaid overtime). Even if true, therefore, the assertion that
Plaintiffs did not receive such notices has no impact on the sole relevant question of whether
they received overtime pay. Cf. Sniscak v. Borough of Raritan, 86 F. App’x 486, 488 n.1 (where §
1983 claim was based on unpaid wages and plaintiffs provided no evidence of denied
compensation, district court did not err in granting summary judgment on § 1983 claim).
Because the record thus contains considerable evidence demonstrating proper overtime
payments after January 1, 2018 and no evidence to the contrary, judgment on this matter in
Defendants’ favor is appropriate. See, e.g., id. at 487-88 & n.1 (affirming summary judgment
where defendants “submitted voluminous payroll records seeking to show that Plaintiffs were
properly compensated [and] Plaintiffs’ blanket allegation that certain amounts were still owed to
them was never connected to a single payroll record, timesheet, or other documentary evidence. .
. . Absent supporting evidence of denied [overtime] compensation, [plaintiffs’] claims fail.”);
Harris v. Healthcare Servs. Grp., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55077, at *8-9 (E.D. Pa. July 18, 2008)
(“This record reflects that Rogers was paid one and one-half times her regular rate of pay for the
15.5 hours of overtime she worked. No evidence in the record suggests she worked additional
overtime for which she was not paid. Therefore, no reasonable fact finder could find that she in
fact performed work for which she was improperly compensated. Accordingly, Healthcare’s
motion for summary judgment will be granted as to Rogers.”); cf. Walsh v. Innovative Design &
Dev. LLC, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39563, at *9 (D.N.J. Mar. 8, 2023) (“While the payroll records
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purport to show the number of overtime hours worked by each employee and the rate of pay the
employee received, Plaintiff identifies evidence challenging the accuracy of these records and
providing a reasonable basis to find that overtime hours were not properly compensated, making
summary judgment inappropriate.”) (citation omitted). As a result, the Court will grant
Defendants’ request to limit any recovery to Plaintiffs’ dates of employment before January 1,
2018.
c. Calculation of Damages
As noted, both the FLSA and WHL require employees to be paid one and one-half times
their regular rate for every hour in excess of forty hours worked in a given workweek. See 29
U.S.C. § 207(a)(1); N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a4. Defendants now ask the Court to establish a method for
calculating any overtime wages that may be owed to Plaintiffs.
The key issue here is determining Plaintiffs’ regular rates of pay. Cf. Smiley v. E.I.
DuPont De Nemours & Co., 839 F.3d 325, 330 (3d Cir. 2016) (“The regular rate at which an
employee is paid for ‘straight time’—or the first forty hours of work in a week—is integral to the
issue of overtime payment . . . .”). Generally speaking, “[t]he regular hourly rate of pay of an
employee is determined by dividing his total remuneration for employment (except statutory
exclusions) in any workweek by the total number of hours actually worked by him in that
workweek for which such compensation was paid.” 29 C.F.R. § 778.109; see also Smiley, 839
F.3d at 330 (“[T]he regular rate is a readily definable mathematical calculation that is explicitly
controlled by the FLSA. . . . There are two components to the calculation: (1) the dividend,
which includes total remuneration minus statutory exclusions; and (2) the divisor, which includes
all hours worked.”) (citing 29 C.F.R. § 778.109).
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Defendants initially proceed on the theory that because Plaintiffs were hired to work
fifty-hour workweeks, their pay rates should be calculated by dividing their weekly salaries by
fifty. For example, Yang was hired at a $40,000 annual salary. Defendants divide this figure by
fifty-two for a weekly salary of $769.23. 4 They then divide this figure by fifty for an hourly
straight rate of $15.38. Finally, they multiply this figure by one and one-half to reach the
overtime rate, which, when properly calculated, is $23.07. 5 See ECF No. 143-2 at 20.
In opposition, Plaintiffs reference 29 C.F.R. § 778.113(a), which states that “[i]f the
employee is employed solely on a weekly salary basis, the regular hourly rate of pay, on which
time and a half must be paid, is computed by dividing the salary by the number of hours which
the salary is intended to compensate.” 29 C.F.R. § 778.113(a). 6 They argue that the fact that their
wage records list their salaries alongside forty-hour figures demonstrates their salaries were
intended to compensate them for forty hours per week under 29 C.F.R. § 778.113(a), in turn
creating a question of material fact on Defendants’ fifty-hour theory that precludes judgment in
Defendants’ favor. 7
“Where the salary covers a period longer than a workweek, . . . it must be reduced to its workweek
equivalent. . . . Once the weekly wage is arrived at, the regular hourly rate of pay will be calculated as
indicated above.” 29 C.F.R. § 778.113. The analysis for annual salaries is therefore the same as for
weekly salaries, with the former requiring the extra step of reducing an annual salary to a weekly one by
dividing it by fifty-two. Cf. id. (“A monthly salary is subject to translation to its equivalent weekly wage
by multiplying by 12 (the number of months) and dividing by 52 (the number of weeks).”).
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Defendants list this final product as $22.55. This appears to be a mathematical or typographical error.
It is unclear whether Section 113(a)’s “intended to compensate” rule may apply to Yang and Sun, since it
applies “[i]f the employee is employed solely on a weekly salary basis,” see 29 C.F.R. § 778.113(a), and
Yang and Sun were hired with annual salaries. The Court need not resolve this question, as Defendants’
argument fails even assuming this method applies to all Plaintiffs.
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Plaintiffs also cite Morales v. Aqua Pazza LLC, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95768 (D.N.J. May 27, 2022) for
the notion that “absent any argument by the employer that an alternate means of calculation should be
used, ‘the regular rate is calculated by dividing the salary by 40 hours a week.’” Id. at *14-15 (quoting
Wang v. Fu Leen Meng Rest. Ltd. Liab. Co., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29377, 2018 WL 1027446, at *4 n.3
(D.N.J. Feb. 23, 2018)).
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The Court agrees with Plaintiffs on this point. Initially, it is unclear which method of
calculation Defendants want the Court to adopt. As noted, their argument initially proceeds upon
29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1) and 29 C.F.R. § 778.109, which provide that the divisor in the regular rate
calculation is to be based on the number of hours actually worked in a given week. See ECF No.
143-2 at 19. But Defendants then argue that the divisor should be fifty across the board, not
because Plaintiffs actually worked exactly fifty hours each week, but because their offer letters
indicated their salaries were intended to compensate them for fifty hours of work per week. See
id. at 20. On reply, they likewise seem to agree that 29 C.F.R. § 778.113’s “intended to
compensate” rule controls. See ECF No. 150 at 17.
Ultimately, it is immaterial which theory Defendants proceed upon, as, in either instance,
the record is sufficiently unclear so as to create a genuine issue of material fact to preclude
judgment as a matter of law. To the extent Defendants want the Court to apply a fifty-hour
divisor based on this being the number of hours actually worked, there is ample evidence
indicating Plaintiffs did not work exactly fifty hours each workweek. See, e.g., ECF No. 149-2 at
¶ 3; 149-3 at ¶ 3; 149-4 at ¶ 3 (each plaintiff stating that “[d]uring my employment, I generally
worked at least 50 hours per week. I sometimes worked even more hours.”). 8 And to the extent
Although not raised by Defendants, to the extent their argument implicates the “fluctuating workweek”
method of calculation set forth in 29 C.F.R. § 778.114, it fails in that respect as well. This method may be
used “where the evidence shows that the employee and employer shared a clear mutual understanding that
a fixed weekly salary was intended as compensation for all hours worked each workweek. In such case,
the regular rate must be separately calculated for each week by dividing the weekly salary by the hours
actually worked by the employee during that week.” Morales, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95768 at *15 n.10
(citing 29 C.F.R. § 778.114) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). Under this method, the Court
would divide Plaintiffs’ weekly salary by the actual number of hours worked in a given week to determine
that week’s pay rates. “Critically, ‘the burden is on the employer, and not the employee, to establish that
the parties mutually agreed upon [a fluctuating workweek] form of compensation.’” Id. (quoting
Bredbenner v. Liberty Travel, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67122, 2009 WL 2391279, at *2 (D.N.J. July
31, 2009)); see also Hills v. Entergy Operations, Inc., 866 F.3d 610, 616 (5th Cir. 2017) (“The fluctuating
workweek method may be applied only where the employee ‘clearly understands’ that her salary is
intended to compensate any unlimited amount of hours she might be expected to work in any given week .
. . .”). Defendants plainly have not met this burden (indeed, they do not assert a fluctuating workweek
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Defendants want the Court to set the divisor at fifty because that is the number of hours
Plaintiffs’ salaries were intended to compensate, that argument also fails, since, as noted,
Defendants’ pay records indicate Plaintiffs’ salaries to correspond to forty-hour workweeks. 9 See
Def. Cert., Exs. 11-19. As a result, even if the Court were to assume the “intended to
compensate” rule applies here, there exists a question of material fact as to whether Plaintiffs’
salaries were intended to compensate them for fifty hours each workweek.
Where, as here, the record presents questions of material fact as to the calculation of an
employee’s overtime rate, summary judgment must be denied. See, e.g., Fiallos v. Hamzah
Slaughter House, LLC, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6050, at *11 (D. Md. Jan. 11, 2022) (denying
summary judgment in part because there “remain[ed] a material issue of fact concerning the
calculation of Plaintiff’s hourly rate”); Dearth v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
160956, at *19 (M.D. Fla. Sep. 4, 2018) (denying summary judgment “[b]ecause the Court does
not have a sufficient factual basis to determine how any overtime that may be owed should be
computed”) (citing Rodriguez v. Farm Stores Grocery, Inc., 518 F.3d 1259, 1269 (11th Cir. 2008)
(reversing instruction for jury “to assume as a fact that the weekly salary was intended to
argument at all), and so the Court cannot grant them judgment on this theory. See, e.g., Tooker v. Blujay
Sols., Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22359, at *3 (W.D. Mich. Feb. 2, 2024) (“[T]here are disputed fact
issues that preclude summary judgment on the fluctuating workweek calculation of damages.”); Cooper v.
Green Pond Animal Care Ctr., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67636, at *9 (D.N.J. May 22, 2015) (“Because
there is a contested issue of fact as to whether Plaintiffs and Defendants had a ‘clear mutual
understanding’ as to their compensation arrangement, the Court cannot determine that the FWW method
applies as a matter of law.”).
Further, defendant Huang testified that Defendants calculated Plaintiffs’ rates using fifty-five hour
weeks. See ECF No. 149-1 at 128. There is also testimony from the Plaintiffs that they were hired with
the understanding that they were to work at least fifty hours per week. See 150-1 at 7. And, Lee’s
onboarding materials indicate she was hired to work forty hours per week. See Def. Cert., Exs. 8-10. In
other words, while Defendants seem to urge the Court to accept that Plaintiffs’ salaries were intended to
compensate them for exactly fifty hours per week, there is evidence in the record suggesting this figure is
both more and less than fifty.
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compensate the store managers for however many hours they actually worked” despite
conflicting evidence)); Baker v. D.A.R.A. II, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8741, at *29 (D. Ariz.
Jan. 22, 2008) (“The record contains conflicting evidence regarding Plaintiff’s regular rate of
pay. . . . Because the summary judgment standard requires that ‘[t]he evidence of the nonmovant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his [or her] favor,’ the
Court finds that a genuine issue of material fact exists regarding Plaintiff’s regular rate of pay.
Determining Plaintiff’s rate of pay . . . depends on credibility determinations which are for the
finder of fact.”) (citation omitted); cf. Hanson v. Camin Cargo Control, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 49896, at *21-22 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 16, 2015) (“Given the signed agreements expressly
acknowledging the understanding that inspectors’ salaries were intended to cover the total
number of hours worked, no matter how few or many, plaintiffs’ evidence is insufficient to
create a genuine issue of material fact on the issue.”). Considering the conflicting evidence (and
inconsistent arguments) supporting Defendants’ request to establish a method of computing
Plaintiffs’ overtime rates, the Court will deny this portion of Defendants’ motion. 10
d. Liquidated Damages
In their opposition, Plaintiffs discuss a 2019 amendment to the WHL providing for
recovery of “liquidated damages equal to not more than 200 percent of the wages due”. N.J.S.A.
34:11-4.10 (the “Wage Theft Act” or “WTA”). Relying solely on Castro v. Linden Bulk Transp.
LLC, 2021 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 3855 (Essex Cty. Sup. Ct. Jan. 4, 2021) — a state trial
court decision — Plaintiffs seek a finding that the liquidated damages provision should apply
retroactively (i.e., to Plaintiffs’ dates of employment before the August 6, 2019 effective date of
Plaintiffs’ opposition notes that “Defendants’ proposed calculations do not take into account the raises
obtained by the Plaintiffs.” Opp. at 11. As the Court will decline to accept Defendants’ method of
calculation as a general matter, it need not address this specific argument.
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the amendment). They argue retroactive application is appropriate because the amendment “did
not expand or otherwise modify the legal terrain the Legislature had previously fashioned.
Instead, the provision established the penalties imposed for violations. The amendment to such
section thus does not interfere with vested rights, and only provides additional remedies for
redress of a pre-existing actionable wrong.” Opp. at 5-6 (quoting Castro) (cleaned up). 11
Plaintiffs’ argument fails. While they correctly cite Castro’s conclusion, that holding is
contrary to the overwhelming weight of authority in this and other federal districts. See Ga Ho
Kim v. DK Cosmetics, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32972, at *15 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 23, 2022) (“[T]he
overwhelming majority of courts (including, it appears, every federal court) to consider the issue
have held that the WTA does not apply retroactively to conduct that predates August 6, 2019.”)
(collecting cases); Jones v. HESP Solar, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90525, at *30 (D.N.J. May 12,
2021) (“[O]n many other occasions, courts in this district have come to the same conclusion as
this Court, that the WTA . . . is not to be applied retroactively.”) (collecting cases).
As this Court explained in rejecting a similar argument in Perloff v. Somo Audience
Corp., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 254987 (D.N.J. Apr. 21, 2020), recon. denied, 2020 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 249293,
[i]t is well established that statutes generally should be given
prospective application. The courts of this State have long followed
a general rule of statutory construction that favors prospective
application of statutes.
Plaintiffs did not affirmatively cross-move for this relief, nor did Defendants address this argument in
their reply, thus implicating Federal Rule 56(f), which permits courts to grant “Judgment Independent of
the Motion” upon “giving notice and a reasonable time to respond”. FED. R. CIV. P. 56(f); see, e.g., Allard
v. Eisenhauer, 971 F. Supp. 2d 458, 469 (D.N.J. 2013) (“‘[A]uthority has developed to allow a court to
grant summary [judgment] to a non-moving party’ so long as the court provides the adversarial party with
notice that it is considering a sua sponte summary judgment motion.”) (quoting Gibson v. Mayor and
Council of City of Wilmington, 355 F.3d 215, 222 (3d Cir. 2004) (citation omitted)). Per Rule 56(f), the
Court advised Defendants that it intended to resolve this question upon the present motion and provided
Defendants with an opportunity to address the issue, which Defendants did. See ECF No. 151, 154.
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Courts apply a two-part test to determine whether the presumption
that newly enacted laws are applied prospectively is overcome. The
first part of the inquiry is whether the Legislature intended to give
the statute retroactive application. Legislative intent can be
determined in one of three ways: (1) when the Legislature expresses
its intent that the law apply retroactively, either expressly or
implicitly; (2) when an amendment is curative; or (3) when the
expectations of the parties so warrant. . . .
Here, the inquiry stops at the first prong. First, the Legislature has
not expressed its intent — either explicitly or implicitly — to apply
the Wage Theft Act retroactively. The plain words of the statute are
clear. . . . [E]xcept for one section, not at issue here, “[t]his act shall
take effect immediately.” . . . . Second, these Wage Theft Act
provisions are not curative. . . . [A]mendments are curative only
where they correct a prior version of a statute that contained an error
or ambiguity. Under this narrow definition, the Wage Theft Act
amendments that Plaintiff invokes here — the significant expansion
of available damages and the addition of a new retaliation
presumption — cannot be considered curative. . . . Finally, the
expectations of the parties do not warrant applying the Wage Theft
Act’s liquidated damages and retaliation amendments retroactively.
Plaintiff resigned his employment . . . before the Wage Theft Act
was passed and filed this lawsuit . . . before the Wage Theft Act was
passed. . . . Given this timeline, it would be difficult to conclude that
the parties had a reasonable expectation that the Wage Theft Act
would retroactively apply to events that occurred months before its
passage.
Id. at *6-9 (citations and quotation marks omitted). 12
Moreover, Castro’s reasoning has been expressly called into question. In Jones, Judge Chesler observed
that “in both of the cases relied upon by the court in Castro, it was clear that the legislature intended for
the statute to apply retroactively and the only question was a constitutional one. As such, the court in
Castro did not appear to consider whether the legislature intended for the WTA to apply retroactively.”
2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90525, at *28. He further noted, as did this Court in Perloff, that “there is no
indication here that the legislature intended for the WTA to apply retroactively. To the contrary, the WTA
states that it is to be given effect immediately, and New Jersey courts have historically considered this
type of language to demonstrate that the legislature intended a statute to only apply prospectively.” See id.
He also disagreed with Castro’s reasoning that the WTA “did not create any new rights, but merely
strengthened the remedies available for already actionable conduct.” See id. at *28-29 (quoting Castro).
Judge Chesler therefore “d[id] not find the court’s conclusion in Castro to be persuasive.” Id. at *29. This
Court agrees.
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In short, both the weight of authority as well as the governing standards for retroactive
applicability militate against retroactive application of the WTA. As a result, Plaintiffs’ request to
apply the 200% liquidated damages provision to their pre-amendment employment is denied.
V.
Conclusion
For the reasons stated, Defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment (ECF No. 143)
is granted in part and denied in part, and Plaintiffs’ informal cross-motion (ECF No. 149) is
denied. An appropriate Order follows.
Dated: April 3, 2024
s/ Cathy L. Waldor
Cathy L. Waldor, U.S.M.J.
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