Class Action Alleges Miami Law Firm Changed Name to Avoid Paying Former Employees

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Miami law firm Serving Immigrants Inc. faces a proposed collective action in which two former employees claim they and other workers are owed unpaid minimum and overtime wages.

The two plaintiffs allege in the 24-page case that defendant Cuprys and Associates Attorneys at Law Corp., who did business as Serving Immigrants Inc., fraudulently closed and sold its assets in September 2019 to escape its obligation to properly pay employees. According to the suit, defendant Cuprys and Associates Inc., who does business as Serving Immigrants, opened in the same location “without any changes” in March 2020 and is “just a mere continuation” of the previous business.

The plaintiffs say Cuprys and Associates is the successor-in-interest to their former employer, Cuprys and Associates Attorneys at Law Corp., and thus owes them unpaid minimum and overtime wages.

Per the complaint, the plaintiffs were hired by the defendants as paralegals in June and July 2019, respectively. Though they regularly worked more than 40 hours per week, and often 60 or more, they were paid for only the first 40 hours each week, the lawsuit alleges. The case claims the defendants were able to keep track of the plaintiffs’ overtime hours yet failed to pay them time-and-a-half wages for all weekly hours worked over 40 as required under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The lawsuit relays that the plaintiffs complained to the defendants “multiple times” about their allegedly unlawful pay practices yet were unsuccessful in obtaining any unpaid wages. Per the case, the plaintiffs resigned from their positions in July and August 2019, respectively, in order to “pursue better employment activities.”

One plaintiff claims that upon his resignation, the defendants failed to pay him for his last week of work, meaning he is owed unpaid minimum wages as well, the suit says.

The lawsuit charges that the defendants also violated the FLSA by failing to keep accurate records of employees’ work hours and post notice in the workplace of workers’ minimum and overtime rights under the FLSA.

According to the suit, Cuprys and Associates Attorneys at Law Corp. was administratively dissolved in late September 2019. The firm’s owner and director, who is also named as a defendant, then incorporated Cuprys and Associates Inc. in March 2020 and continued using the same fictitious name, office, workforce, client list and business methods, the case says. According to the lawsuit, Cuprys and Associates Inc. “performed exactly the same business, under the same working conditions” as its predecessor.

The case alleges that these events occurred while the plaintiffs were attempting to recover unpaid wages. Per the suit, Cuprys and Associates Inc. is the plaintiffs’ “successor employer” and thus responsible for their apparent damages.

The plaintiffs look to represent current and former similarly situated Serving Immigrants employees who were not paid minimum or overtime wages, or worked in excess of 40 hours during one or more weeks after July 2019 without being properly compensated in accordance with the FLSA.

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