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As it appeared in Law360 Employment Authority
Hundreds of entry-level research coordinators at a Bronx, New York, medical college work 45 to 50 hours a week without overtime pay, a former coordinator alleged in a proposed class and collective action filed in New York federal court.
In a complaint Friday, Rinaldys Castillo accused Albert Einstein College of Medicine Inc. and its parent organizations, Montefiore Health Systems Inc. and Montefiore Medical Center, of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law by misclassifying research coordinators as overtime-exempt.
Castillo was a study coordinator from 2020 until May 2022 for Albert Einstein College and Montefiore and said he worked at least 45 to 50 hours per week. However, he alleged that he and other research coordinators were not paid time-and-a-half premiums for the hours worked over 40.
The FLSA and NYLL exempt some employees from their overtime provisions, but Castillo said none of those apply to the coordinators because they never earned more than $975 per week or exercised independent judgment, which would warrant exemption.
Albert Einstein College and Montefiore also didn’t provide research coordinators with wage statements that showed their regular pay rates, overtime pay rates and the number of hours worked, which Castillo said could have alerted workers to the fact that they were underpaid sooner.
Additionally, Castillo alleged that the college and medical center regularly denied research coordinators meal and rest breaks in violation of the NYLL. They did not always receive a 30-minute meal break on days their shifts lasted six or more hours or a 20-minute break between 5 and 7 p.m. if their shift started before 11 a.m. and continued past 7 p.m., according to the complaint.
Castillo is seeking to represent an FLSA collective of all study and research coordinators in the last three years who were not paid time-and-a-half overtime rates for all hours worked over 40 in a work week. He also wants to represent an NYLL class of coordinators in New York in the last six years who were not paid proper overtime rates, not provided accurate wage statements and denied rest and meal breaks.
Albert Einstein College is a research-intensive medical school that employs around 2,000 full-time staff members, including coordinators, that are devoted to conducting research projects, according to the complaint.
Shane Seppinni of Seppinni Law, who is representing Castillo, said they look forward to holding Montefiore and Einstein Medical College accountable in court.
“Albert Einstein Medical College and Montefiore market themselves as social justice institutions but our client alleges that beneath this progressive veneer is rampant multimillion dollar wage theft from vulnerable low-wage workers,” Seppinni said in a statement.
A representative of the medical college did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Castillo is represented by Jeremiah Frei-Pearson, Andrew C. White and Erin Raye Kelley of Finkelstein Blankinship Frei-Pearson & Garber LLP and by Shane Seppinni of Seppinni Law Firm.
Counsel information for Albert Einstein Medical College was not available Monday.
The case is Castillo v. Albert Einstein College of Medicine Inc. et al., case number 1:24-cv-00984, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
–Editing by Nick Petruncio.
