Martinez v. Hilton Hotels Corp.

930 F.Supp.2d 508

Susana MARTINEZ, Ninnette Justiniano, Julia Fazylova, Carol Stanberry, and Lorraine Thomas, Plaintiffs,

v.HILTON HOTELS CORP., Sunstone Hotel Properties, Inc., and Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Inc., Defendants.

No. 10 Civ. 7688(JLC).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

March 15, 2013.

Brian Michael Moss, Law Offices of Jeffrey E. Goldman, New York, NY, Cletus P. Lyman, Michael T. Sweeney, Lyman & Ash, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs.

Robert S. Whitman, Howard Mark Wexler, Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P., New York, NY, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES L. COTT, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiffs Susana Martinez (“Martinez”), Ninnette Justiniano (“Justiniano”), Julia Fazylova (“Fazylova”), Carol Stanberry (“Stanberry”), and Lorraine Thomas (“Thomas”) (collectively, “Plaintiffs”), present and former housekeeping personnel at the Hilton Times Square, bring this case under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) seeking unpaid overtime and “spread of hours” compensation. Defendants Sunstone Hotel Properties, Inc. (“Sunstone”) and Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (“Interstate”) (collectively, “Defendants”) have moved for summary judgment on the asserted basis that Plaintiffs were overtime-exempt “executives” under the FLSA and NYLL. In the alternative, Defendants seek partial summary judgment that the proper method for computing any overtime compensation due to Plaintiffs is the United States Department of Labor's “half-time” method, and that Plaintiffs are not entitled to “spread of hours” pay under NYLL because their compensation exceeded the minimum wage. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is denied, and their motion for partial summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts¹

During the relevant time period, Fazylova, Justiniano, Stanberry, and Martinez were employed as Housekeeping Managers at the Hilton Times Square (“Hotel”), and Thomas was employed as an Assistant Housekeeping Manager. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 1–5.² Sunstone owns the Hotel and managed its operations from March 17, 2006 through April 1, 2011, when another company took over operations and became the employer of the Hotel's employees. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 6, 8. Interstate is Sunstone's parent corporation, Def. 56.1 ¶ 9, and according to Plaintiffs, employed Thomas and Martinez from approximately July 2010 until April 1, 2011. Am. Compl. ¶ 15; Pl. 56.1 ¶ 9; Wexler Decl. Ex. E at 21. ³

1. Structure of the Housekeeping Department

a. Structure of the Department from 2006 until 2009

From March 17, 2006 through October 31, 2009, the Hotel's housekeeping department consisted of Room Attendants and Housemen (the number of which is not specified in the record), ten or eleven Housekeeping Managers, six Office Coordinators, and a Housekeeping Director. See Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 10–12, 15; Wexler Decl. Ex K at 16–17. Room Attendants and Housemen were hourly, overtime-eligible employees represented by Local 6 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union. Def. 56.1 ¶ 20; Moss Decl. Ex. P. Room Attendants were responsible for cleaning 14 rooms per shift. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 14, 16–18. Housemen performed such work as picking up dirty linens and cleaning the common areas. Def. 56.1 ¶ 19.

Housekeeping Managers were non-union, salaried employees whom Defendants treated as overtime-exempt. Def. 56.1 ¶ 13. Housekeeping Managers inspected and oversaw cleaning and related work performed by the Room Attendants and Housemen. Def. 56.1 ¶ 34; Moss Decl. Ex. A. Office Coordinators were non-union, hourly employees whom Defendants treated as overtime-eligible. Moss Decl. Exs. RRR, UUU. Office Coordinators performed administrative office work such as staffing, dispatching assignments, scheduling, payroll, guest requests, processing paperwork, and answering the phone in the housekeeping office. Moss Decl. Exs. V, XXX. Office Coordinators also performed room inspections, and according to one of their supervisors, “pretty much did everything, just like the housekeeping managers.” Moss Decl. Ex. V (Slavka Kmec Tr. at 21) (acting Housekeeping Director).

The Housekeeping Director was a salaried employee who headed the department and was responsible for “employ[ing] the team for the housekeeping department” and manag[ing] the daily operations, including purchasing, budgeting, and all othermanagement functions.” Wexler Decl. Ex. I at 13; see also Moss Decl. Ex. A (listing general duties), Ex. GGG (housekeeping director responsible for “efficient running of the department”). The Director was the only employee in the department who wore professional clothing to work. Wexler Reply Decl. Exs. B, C.

b. Restructuring of the Department in 2009

In October 2009, the Hotel eliminated the Office Coordinator position and replaced it with an overtime-exempt Assistant Housekeeping Manager position. Moss Decl. Exs. LLL, QQQ. Plaintiffs' superiors testified that this change was made in order “to eliminate overtime,” put “more people on the floors,” and get “more work for the cost [the Hotel] was paying” to its housekeeping employees. Moss Decl. Exs. LLL, QQQ, SSS. Assistant Housekeeping Managers had similar responsibilities to the Housekeeping Managers. Def. 56.1 ¶ 58; Pl. 56.1 ¶ 58; Wexler Decl. Ex. E at 68–69; Moss Decl. Ex. SSS.⁴

2. Plaintiffs' Duties

During the relevant time period, the Hotel's 22 guest floors and 460 guest rooms were divided into five sections for housekeeping purposes. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 14, 16. There were two to four Housekeeping Managers on duty at a time, each charged with overseeing the cleaning of one or more of these sections. Moss Decl. Ex. AA. Housekeeping Managers began their work day in the housekeeping office, where they selected two rooms to designate as the sales department's “show rooms” for the day and printed out several reports, including the daily work assignments for the Room Attendants and Housemen, a report designating rooms as VIP, Hilton Honors, or Quality Assurance rooms (special rooms that received extra amenities and cleaning), and lists reflecting the number of clean, dirty, occupied, and unoccupied rooms for that day. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 23, 27, 28; Pl. 56.1 ¶¶ 23, 28; Moss Decl. Ex. U.⁵ If any of the Room Attendants or Housemen were absent, or if there were an unusually large number of rooms to be cleaned, Plaintiffs might contact the Housekeeping Director to request additional coverage. Def. 56.1 ¶ 24; Moss Decl. Exs. W, X. The Housekeeping Director made the final decision regarding any staffing modifications, and also authorized any overtime necessitated thereby. Pl. 56.1 ¶ 24; Moss Decl. Ex. W.

At the beginning of the day, Plaintiffs also prepared cleaning supplies for the Room Attendants and Housemen, which consisted of cutting rags, obtaining buckets, mops, garbage bags, dusters, and linens from the supply closet, and putting cleaning chemicals into bottles. Def. 56.1 ¶ 25; Pl. 56.1 ¶ 25; Moss Decl. Exs. T, X, Z. On a rotating basis, Plaintiffs were designated by the Hotel's human resources department to lead the “daily huddle,” which was a ten-minute meeting with the cleaning staff to discuss work assignments and safety topics. Def. 56.1 ¶ 29; Pl. 56.1 ¶ 29; Moss Decl. Ex. CC; Wexler Decl. Ex. J at 80. According to Plaintiffs, leadingthe daily huddle consisted of little more than reading an email from the human resources department to the housekeeping staff. Pl. 56.1 ¶ 29; Moss Decl. Ex. CC.

Plaintiffs subsequently went to the floors of the Hotel, where they spent the majority of their work day. Def. 56.1 ¶ 30; Pl. 56.1 ¶ 30; Moss Decl. Exs. BB, QQQ. They first cleaned and/or inspected the show rooms and VIP rooms to make sure they were “perfect,” which could take up to an hour per room. Def. 56.1 ¶ 32; Pl. 56.1 ¶ 32; Moss Decl. Ex. BB.⁶ Then Plaintiffs began the work of inspecting the ordinary rooms to ensure that they had been sufficiently cleaned by the Room Attendants in conformity with the Hilton Standard on Cleanliness. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 33, 34; Pl. 56.1 ¶ 34.⁷ One of Plaintiffs' supervisors suggested that this was Plaintiffs' “most important[ ]” duty. Wexler Decl. Ex. O at 97.

The parties dispute what Plaintiffs' inspection duties entailed. Defendants contend that if a room had not been sufficiently cleaned by the assigned Room Attendant, Plaintiffs were supposed to “call back” the Room Attendant, point out the observed deficiencies, and direct the Room Attendant to remedy them. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 36, 38. Alternatively, if the deficiencies were minor, Defendants acknowledge that Plaintiffs might perform any “touch up” cleaning themselves before releasing the room to the front desk for occupancy. Def. 56.1 ¶ 37. Defendants assert that Plaintiffs had the “discretion” as to whether to call back the Room Attendant or, in the alternative, to finish cleaning the rooms themselves. Def. 56.1 ¶ 38. However, Defendants insist that the general protocol was to call back the Room Attendant to fix the room, and that through the course of their inspections, Plaintiffs provided “direct coaching and feedback” to the Room Attendants and Housemen, and “trained and retrained” the cleaning staff on the Hotel's cleaning expectations. Def. 56.1 ¶¶ 36, 41, 42.

Plaintiffs deny that they trained the Room Attendants and maintain that Room Attendants and Housemen were trained by other Room Attendants and Housemen. Pl. 56.1 ¶ 42. Plaintiffs also deny that they “coached” the Room Attendants and Housemen through their room inspections. According to Plaintiffs, they typically inspected rooms without the assigned Room Attendant present and rarely found the rooms to have been sufficiently cleaned. Pl. 56.1 ¶¶ 35, 42; Moss Decl. Ex. MM. Plaintiffs testified that time constraints did not permit them to “call back” the Room Attendant to re-clean the room without “dropping” rooms at the end of the shift. Moss Decl. Ex. GG. Thomas explained that Housekeeping...