Judge Paul Engelmayer
Greathouse was a guard for JHS Security, owned by Wilcox, from more than five years. His Fair Labor Standards Act suit sought unpaid regular and overtime wages. Except for findings on the amount of liquidated damages and the total number of weeks worked, the court adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendations. The magistrate judge found Greathouse worked 263 weeks. In recommending that Greathouse be awarded a total of $30,658, the magistrate judge found a liquidated damages award of $10,687 merited under the New York Labor Law but that another liquidated damages award under the U.S. act was inappropriate. Although it found that inclusion of certain deductions would have raised the liquidated damages award to $12,492, district court concluded that the ultimate liquidated damages award would be greater due to the magistrate’s finding that Greathouse was not paid for two weeks’ work. Greathouse’s testimony about complaining to Wilcox over not receiving paychecks of “several months” led to a “fair and reasonable inference” that he was not paid any wages for 12 weeks. Using a rate of $412.50 weekly, the court awarded him $4,950 on damages for unpaid wages, not the $825 awarded by the magistrate judge.
