Beckwith et al v. New York City Transit Authority

Filing 118

ORDER, A telephone conference is scheduled for Wednesday, March 12, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. ET on the Court's Microsoft Teams platform. Counsel for all parties are directed to call: [phone]; phone conference ID: 335 180 997#, at the scheduled time. SO ORDERED. ( Telephone Conference set for 3/12/2025 at 01:00 PM before Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave.) (Signed by Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave on 3/11/25) (yv)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
PATRICIA BECKWITH, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
-v-

CIVIL ACTION NO.: 19 Civ. 10930 (JPO) (SLC)

THE NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY,

ORDER

Defendant.

SARAH L. CAVE, United States Magistrate Judge.
The Court has reviewed Plaintiffs’ letter dated March 10, 2025 (ECF No. 114), seeking
approval of their Proposed Settlement Agreement and Release (ECF No. 115-1 (the
“Agreement”)). The Court has concerns about the Agreement, in particular, paragraph 5, which
prohibits Plaintiffs and their counsel from publicizing the Agreement “in any manner[,]” including
on social media or Plaintiffs’ counsel’s website. (ECF No. 115-1 at 3 ¶ 5). See Barsa v. Beacon
Health Options, Inc., No. 19 Civ. 1646 (JPO) (BCM), 2020 WL 7240346, at *8 (S.D.N.Y. July 10,
2020) (“Provisions that significantly limit an FLSA plaintiff’s ability to communicate truthful
information about an FLSA settlement (or the underlying lawsuit) are contrary to public policy
because they prevent the spread of information about FLSA actions to other workers . . . who can
then use that information to vindicate their statutory rights.”) (internal citation omitted); Alvarez
v. Schnipper Rest. LLC, No. 16 Civ. 5779 (ER), 2019 WL 5681633, at *3–4 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 1, 2019)
(rejecting FLSA settlement provision that prohibited plaintiff “from publicizing the terms of the
agreement and release to the media or from discussing them on social media”).

Accordingly, a telephone conference is scheduled for Wednesday, March 12, 2025 at
1:00 p.m. ET on the Court’s Microsoft Teams platform. Counsel for all parties are directed to call:
[phone]; phone conference ID: 335 180 997#, at the scheduled time.
Dated:

New York, New York
March 11, 2025
SO ORDERED.

_________________________
SARAH L. CAVE
United States Magistrate Judge

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