Moon v. Kwon

• Citation: 248 F.Supp.2d 201
• Decision Date: 09 September 2002
• Docket Number: No. 99 CIV. 11810(GEL).,99 CIV. 11810(GEL).
• Parties: Keun-Jae MOON, Plaintiff, v. Joon Gab KWON; 43 West 32nd Street Corp., d/b/a Hotel Stanford; Beautri Realty Corp., d/b/a Seoul House; "ABC Corporation"; Stanford Hotel New York Corporation, LLC; Central Palace LLC; Han Ah Reum Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

248 F.Supp.2d 201

Keun-Jae MOON, Plaintiff, v. Joon Gab KWON; 43 West 32nd Street Corp., d/b/a Hotel Stanford; Beautri Realty Corp., d/b/a Seoul House; "ABC Corporation"; Stanford Hotel New York Corporation, LLC; Central Palace LLC; Han Ah Reum Inc., Defendants.

No. 99 CIV. 11810(GEL).

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

September 9, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kenneth Kimerling, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York City (Elizabeth B. Cooper, Marcia Griffith, Anna Meresidis, Ryan Weiner, and Jamie Mowder, Lincoln Square Legal Services, Inc., New York City, of counsel), for Plaintiff.¹

Jeffrey A. Hill (Richard M. Zaroff and Jennifer L. Marlborough, of counsel), Wormser, Kiely, Galef & Jacobs LLP, New York City, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

LYNCH, District Judge.

Plaintiff Keun-Jae Moon brings this action under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and the New York Labor Law alleging that the defendants, acting as joint employers, failed to pay overtime wages to which he is entitled. The Court has jurisdiction over Moon's federal claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and exercises supplemental jurisdiction over Moon's state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367. Moon, a Korean immigrant who speaks little English, claims that he was required by his employers to work as a maintenance man for a hotel and related businesses essentially seven days a week and virtually 24 hours per day for years, without receiving the premium pay required by federal and New York State law for work beyond the ordinary maximum work week established by law. Following a bench trial, the Court finds that Moon's claims are for the most part accurate, and only slightly exaggerated, and concludes that under the law, he is entitled to substantial damages.

Moon's complaint originally was filed on December 6, 1999, and subsequently was amended twice. A notice of entry of default was filed as to defendant Beautri Realty Corp. on March 17, 2000. Following the completion of discovery, Moon's claims were tried before this Court at a bench trial held November 13 to 15, 2001. In accordance with the Individual Practices of this Court in civil bench trials, and without objection, the parties submitted the direct testimony of their witnesses by affidavit as well as their documentary evidence in advance of trial. Moon submitted his own affidavit (Pl.Ex. 19 ("Moon Aff.")) as well as the affidavits of Victor Sanchez, who has worked at the hotel as a bellman since 1993 (Pl.Ex. 20 ("Sanchez Aff.") ¶¶ 1-2), and Victor Tejada, who worked at the hotel as in the housekeeping department from 1991 until he was laid off in 2001 (Pl.Ex. 21 ("Tejada Aff.") ¶¶ 1-2). The defendants submitted the declarations of defendant Joong Gab Kwon ("Kwon"), the owner and manager of the Hotel Stanford (Def. Ex. T ("Kwon Decl.") ¶¶ 3, 7); Woo Jin Choi, who was employed as a senior manager at the hotel from November 1988 until July 1999 (Def. Ex. U ("Choi Decl") ¶ 3-5), Young Bok Kwon ("Thomas Kwon"), who was a front desk clerk at the hotel from 1994 until 2000 (and is not related to defendant Joong Gab Kwon) (Def. Ex. V. ("T. Kwon Decl.") ¶ 4); Jay Young Park, who has worked as a front desk clerk at the hotel since 1995 (Def. Ex. X ("Park Deck") ¶ 2); Ki Nam Kim, who worked as a front desk manager at the hotel from 1988 until 1995 and again from 1998 to the present (Def. Ex. W ("Kim Decl.") ¶ 2); and Nicolas Lee, who has served as the hotel's Director of Operations since 1999 (Def. Ex. Y ("Lee Decl") ¶ 2.).

Plaintiff also relied on excerpts from the deposition testimony of Huee Kyung Kwon ("Ms. Kwon"), who is the daughter of defendant Kwon and has worked at the hotel since 1998, first as the hotel's comptroller and currently as its director of management. (H. Kwon Dep. 9-10, 15, 21.) The defendants relied upon excerpts from the plaintiffs deposition. (Moon Dep.) The parties submitted counter-designations from both depositions. All of the witnesses were cross-examined at trial. Moon testified through a Korean language interpreter, and Sanchez and Tejada testified through a Spanish language interpreter. While most of the witnesses for the defense appeared to understand English in varying degrees, all of the defense witnesses except Choi relied upon the assistance of a Korean language interpreter when testifying.

In general, the Court finds Moon's testimony credible with respect to the terms and conditions of his employment and the nature and extent of the work he performed for the defendants. While Moon understandably does not recall every last detail concerning the work he performed in particular weeks, his overall testimony concerning the work he performed is amply corroborated by documentary evidence and the testimony of other witnesses. By contrast, the Court finds the defense witnesses considerably less credible than Moon. In particular, the Court finds Kwon not to be credible in his testimony concerning his own day-to-day involvement in the operations of the hotel, the terms and conditions of Moon's employment relationship, the nature and extent of the work that Moon performed for the defendants, and his knowledge of the defendants' failure to pay Moon overtime to the extent required by law. The remaining defense witnesses, all of whom are affiliated with the defendants in one way or another (Tr. 206-07, 252, 281, 291-92, 298-99), do not credibly refute Moon's overall account of the work he performed for the defendants.

In light of the evidence received at trial, the following constitutes this Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law under Fed.R.Civ.P. 52.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Parties

Plaintiff Keun-Jae Moon is a 57-year-old Korean immigrant who came to the United States in 1985 and currently lives in the Bronx. (Moon Aff. ¶¶ 3-4.) Moon has had no formal education, and does not speak or read English; he did, however, receive some training as a repairman and mechanic in Korea. (Moon Aff.¶¶ 5-7; Tr. 38-40.) From November 1987 until August 2000, Moon worked at the Hotel Stanford, a year-round, 121-room hotel located in midtown Manhattan. (Stip.Facts.¶ 11.)

The hotel is owned and operated by defendant Stanford New York L.L.C. ("Stanford"); prior to June 1998, the hotel had been operated by defendant 43 West 32nd Street Corp. ("43 West"). (Stip. Facts¶ 1.) Defendant Joong Gab Kwon, in turn, is a member of Stanford and the President and Treasurer of 43 West. (Stip. Facts ¶¶ 4-5; Def. Ex. T ("Kwon Decl.") ¶¶ 3-4.) While Kwon testified that he does not maintain an office in the hotel and does not participate in setting the conditions of employment at the hotel beyond the senior managerial level (Kwon Decl. ¶¶ 22-23), on cross-examination Kwon admitted that he regularly works out of an office in the hotel, has actively and directly participated in labor negotiations with union representatives of the hotel's non-managerial employees, and has participated directly in decisions involving the terms and conditions of Moon's employment, such as his day-to-day job responsibilities and his compensation, health care benefits, and housing. (Kwon Decl. ¶¶ 17, 23; Tr. 209-11, 216, 222-23; PI. Exs. 13, 24.) Indeed, Kwon claims to have personally made the decision to hire Moon. (Tr. 216, 227.) The Court finds that Kwon plays an active, day-to-day role in the operation of the hotel, including direct supervision of employees such as Moon.

Kwon also was a shareholder of defendant Beautri Realty Corp. ("Beautri") until January 1998 and a member, the majority shareholder, and the manager of defendant Central Palace L.L.C. ("Central") until its dissolution.² (Stip. Facts ¶¶ 7, 9; Kwon Decl.¶¶ 5, 17; Tr. 220.) Between 1994 and 1998, Beautri owned a residential apartment building located on the same block as the hotel and known as "Seoul House." (Kwon Decl. ¶ 17.) At all relevant times, Central owned a nearby commercial building on 41st Street near Park Avenue (the "41st Street Building"). (Tr. 219-20.) The last corporate defendant, Han Ah Reum Corp., sued herein as Han Ah Reum Inc. ("Han Ah Reum"), is owned by Kwon's brother. (Kwon Decl. ¶ 6.). Han Ah Reum operates a Korean grocery store on the same block as the hotel. (Moon Aff. ¶ 29.)

The parties have stipulated that the hotel does business within the city of New York and is an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of FLSA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 206-07, and that collectively, Stanford, 43 West, Central, and Han Ah Reum also constitute an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce within the meaning of FLSA. (Stip.Facts¶¶ 1-2.)

II. Moon's Compensation

Moon was brought to the hotel in November 1987 by a friend and was hired as a maintenance worker after meeting with one of the hotel's managers. (Moon Aff. ¶ 9-10; Stip. Facts ¶ 10; Tr. 23.) Prior to working at the hotel, Moon had previously worked in the United States as a maintenance worker and in a grocery store, and in Korea doing plumbing and repairing refrigerators and air conditioners. (Moon Aff. ¶¶ 7-8.) Kwon maintains that he, too, interviewed Moon, even though he did not typically participate in the hiring process at the hotel, as a favor to a friend who had informed him that Moon was an orphan of the Korean War. (Kwon Decl. ¶ 10.) According to Kwon, Moon confirmed during that interview that he was a Korean War orphan and that his family had remained in Korea; after the interview, Kwon asserts, he instructed the hotel's management to hire Moon as a maintenance worker even though Moon did not have any skills. (Kwon Decl. ¶ 11.) Moon, however, disputes Kwon's account, asserting that he never had an interview with Kwon and that he is not, in fact, a Korean War orphan. (Tr. 48, 304-05.) While this factual dispute is not material to any important issues in this case, the Court credits Moon's testimony that he is not a Korean War orphan and did not meet with Kwon...