Perez v. Super Maid, LLC

55 F.Supp.3d 1065

Thomas E. Perez¹ Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff

v.Super Maid, LLC, an Illinois limited liability company, d/b/a Supermaid, and Paul Krawczyk, an individual, Defendant.

No. 11 C 07485

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

Signed July 14, 2014

Stacey L. Scanlon, Linda Joy Ringstad, United States Department of Labor, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Paul J. Augustyn, Des Plaines, IL, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

John J. Tharp, Jr., United States District Judge

The Secretary of Labor (the “Secretary”) filed this suit against Super Maid, LLC (“Supermaid”² ) and its president and owner, Paul Krawczyk. The Secretary alleges that the defendants violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions. The Secretary seeks unpaid compensation, liquidated damages, and an injunction preventing the defendants from further violating the FLSA. The Court now considers the Secretary's motion for summary judgment.

I. Background

A. Undisputed Material Facts

The following facts are taken exclusively from the Secretary's Local Rule 56.1(a)(3) statement (Dkt. 64, referred to herein as Pl.'s 56.1). The defendants did not file a response to the Secretary's 56.1(a) statement, nor any statement of additional material facts pursuant to Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(C). As a consequence of their failure to respond to the statement of material facts, the facts in the Secretary's statement are deemed admitted. See Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(C) (“All material facts set forth in the statement required of the moving party will be deemed to be admitted unless controverted by the statement of the opposing part.”). The Court still construes those facts in the light most favorable to the defendants and draws all reasonable inferences in their favor. See Keeton v. Mornings tar, Inc., 667 F.3d 877, 844 (7th Cir.2012).

Supermaid is an Illinois limited liability company that provides cleaning services to households and businesses in Chicago, the Chicago suburbs, and Northwest Indiana. Krawczyk, the sole owner and president of Supermaid, manages the company's day-to-day operations. He controls pay and employment practices, including hiring workers, assigning work, setting wages, and handling payroll and timesheets. Supermaid's annual dollar volume of sales exceeded $500,000 each year from 2009 to 2012.

Applicants for jobs with Supermaid are required to sign three forms, entitled: “Employee Application for Supermaid, LLC,” “Employee Non–Compete Agreement for Supermaid, LLC,” and “Employee Responsibilities & Agreement.” The Non–Compete Agreement states:

For good consideration and as an inducement for Supermaid, LLC the undersigned Employee hereby agrees not to directly or indirectly compete with the business of the Incorporation and its successors assigns during the period of employment and for a period of 3 years following termination of employment and notwithstanding the clause or reason for termination....

The term “not compete' as used herein shall mean that the Employee shall not accept employment or be employed (either legally or on a cash basis) by any current or former customer of the Incorporation. ...

Pl.'s 56.1 ¶ 13 (emphasis in original). Krawczyk testified that the Non–Compete Agreement means that maids may not work for another maid service and that he told maids that they were not supposed to work for another maid service. In training, maids are told that if they are caught with their own clients, Krawczyk would keep their last check or sue them. On at least one occasion, Krawczyk confronted a maid who, he suspected, was taking Supermaid's customers and threatened to take her to court. Supermaid's maids believe that they are not allowed to clean houses other than those assigned to them by Supermaid.

Supermaid's maids think of themselves as employees, not independent contractors. Supermaid does not typically engage maids on a temporary or short-term basis. Applicants applying to Supermaid often seek permanent or long-term work; this matches clients' preferences to have the same maids clean their premises on a regular basis. Supermaid frequently assigns the same maids to the same customers; it stated on its website that it “understands the importance of being comfortable with who you have in your home” and “will make every effort to provide consistency in your staff.” Pl.'s 56.1 Ex. D. Applicants are not required to have a bond or carry their own insurance, and Supermaid's maids do not carry their own insurance. Supermaid has a bond and carries liability insurance for its maids' work at various worksites.

Newly hired maids are required to complete “no more [than three] days” of on-the-job training. Defs.' Interrog. 33, Pl.'s Ex. G. During training, new maids accompany established teams to learn how Supermaid performs the work; the established maids also verify the skill level of the new maids. New maids also complete one-and-a-half to three hours of office training during which Supermaid explains company regulations, including the Non–Compete Agreement. From 2005 through July 2013, Office Manager Andrea Munoz was usually in charge of scheduling new maids for training and explaining the rules and regulations to them. After a new maid “qualifies her standards to [Supermaid's],” Supermaid begins assigning the maid to jobs. Id. at 8.

Maids' cleaning duties include vacuuming, dusting, cleaning kitchens and bathrooms, trash removal, washing floors, and making beds. Krawczyk considers this to be an “easy job” that does not require a special skillset. Krawczyk Dep. 169–70, Pl.'s Ex. C. Supermaid determines who will be on each cleaning team, sets daily work schedules, and specifies on-site cleaning procedures; it also provides cleaning supplies, tools, and the required vehicles for use in travel to jobsites. The vehicles, Supermaid-branded Honda Elements, are used by Supermaid as a means of cheap advertisement for the company. Supermaid pays for gasoline, maintenance, and insurance for the vehicles. Supermaid advertises that it uses “National Brand Cleaning Products”; it does not allow maids to use alternative products to those it provides to them without prior approval and a product test. Pl.'s 56.1 Ex. D. Supermaid requires maids to clean floors on their hands and knees; it prohibits the use of a mop even if it is a maid's preferred method. Supermaid also requires maids to wear a uniform consisting of a white polo shirt and a specific type of pants.

Supermaid sets the number and schedule for jobs that its maids are to complete. Routinely, it scheduled maids to work six days per week. Maids are expected to complete their assignments in a specified order and at a specified time. They are not allowed to change the order of their assignments without prior approval from Supermaid. Supermaid sometimes refuses requests to change the order of assignments or to work more or fewer jobs. Maids are not allowed to begin cleaning early if they arrive at a house before their scheduled time without advance approval by Krawczyk; they also may not leave early if they complete cleaning the house before the scheduled time. At the end of each day, maids are sometimes required to call Supermaid, at which point they may be assigned additional jobs to complete that day. Supermaid's Officer Manager attests that if a maid refuses the additional jobs, Krawczyk becomes angry and threatens to take pay out of the maid's paycheck. Several maids attest that they generally begin work at 8:00 a.m., but may start as early as 6:00 a.m.; they finish work roughly between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m., with some variation. Maids generally clean a total of three to seven houses per day, taking between two and four hours per house.

Supermaid pays maids on a weekly basis. Maids usually go to the Supermaid office to pick up their paychecks and supplies. Supermaid charges its customers an average of $80 per house, although the fee can range between $60 and $150. After a remodeling project, Supermaid charges up to $400 or $500. The maids' pay is based on a set amount for each house cleaned instead of how many hours that they work.

Supermaid designates a pay rate depending on the type of house and the nature of the cleaning required, paying more for certain larger houses. When maids begin working for Supermaid, the person who drives the company vehicle is paid $20 per house and the passenger is paid $15 per house. Some maids have been given raises at Supermaid's discretion; others have been denied raises. Performing faster or more efficiently cannot positively affect maids' pay because their schedules are set the day before they work, in many cases the jobs assigned take longer than allotted, and maids risk pay deductions if rushed work causes client complaints. Maids are not allowed to hire others to do their work or assist them. Supermaid does not pay more for hours worked in excess of forty per week, nor does it record or compensate for time spent traveling from the time that the maid who is driving the company vehicle picks up the passenger to the first jobsite, between jobsites, or from the last jobsite to the time of passenger drop off. Maids testified that it generally took about one hour to travel between jobs, though it could take as little as thirty minutes or as much as two hours. Supermaid also does not provide maids with paid breaks or meal periods. Maids are required to eat meals in the vehicle between jobs or when they get home; they may not take lunch breaks.

Between 2000 and roughly the beginning of 2010, Supermaid maintained Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that Krawczyk used to calculate what to pay maids. The spreadsheets indicate the number of jobs maids worked and the amounts paid to them. Krawczyk also used comments in the spreadsheet to note pay deductions for a variety of reasons. Maids did not submit invoices to Supermaid to charge it for their work; instead, they used...