Magistrate Judge Joan Azrack
S.E.B. Service of New York Inc. (SEB) employs some 2,000 uniformed and undercover security guards at over 150 locations in 22 states. Plaintiff guards’ putative collective and class action alleged SEB violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to pay overtime and other compensation to similarly situated guards. The court granted plaintiffs conditional certification of their FLSA claims for nationwide classes of uniformed and undercover guards. In granting certification for travel time claims of all guards the court noted that the determination of each guard’s travel time between work sites was a question of damages that did not justify certification’s denial. Also, plaintiffs’ evidence as to the “shorting” of hours—not paying for all time worked that guards recorded on their time sheets—suggested a company-wide practice. Each deposed plaintiff testified to instances where guards were not properly paid despite complaints to supervisors or SEB’s centralized payroll department. Conditional certification was also warranted on plaintiff’ claims that they were paid at their straight-time rate for all overtime hours worked. Such assertions suggested the guards’ similar situation with respect to SEB’s alleged general policy to deny overtime.
