Ramirez v. 316 Charles, LLC

• Decision Date: 16 December 2020
• Docket Number: Civil Case No. SAG-19-03252
• Parties: HERNAND RAMIREZ, Plaintiff, v. 316 CHARLES, LLC et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

HERNAND RAMIREZ, Plaintiff,
v.
316 CHARLES, LLC et al., Defendants.

Civil Case No. SAG-19-03252

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

December 16, 2020

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

Homeslyce is a pizza restaurant with multiple locations in the greater Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., area. Plaintiff, Hernand Ramirez ("Ramirez"), claims he worked at Homeslyce in Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland, and was not paid overtime wages as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), the Maryland Wage and Hour Law ("MWHL"), and the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law ("MWPCL"). Ramirez named 316 Charles, LLC ("316 Charles"); 9400 Snowden River, LLC ("Snowden River"); and Haluk Kantar ("Kantar") (collectively "Defendants") as his defendant employers. This Court held a bench trial on November 5 and 6, 2020.

The Court has heard the evidence and reviewed the exhibits. For the following reasons, the Court finds Kantar and Snowden River jointly owe Ramirez $18,806.44, plus reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

I. Findings of Fact

The Court finds the facts stated herein based upon its evaluation of the evidence, including the credibility of the witnesses, and the inferences that the Court has found reasonable to draw from the evidence.

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1. 316 Charles does business as "Cazbar," a Turkish restaurant located at 316 Charles Street in Baltimore, Maryland. Kantar is a member of 316 Charles. (Test. of Haluk Kantar, Nov. 5, 2020.)

2. Snowden River does business as "Homeslyce," a pizza restaurant located at 9400 Snowden River Parkway in Columbia, Maryland. Fatih Eryigit ("Eryigit") is a member of Snowden River. (Kantar Test., Nov. 6, 2020; Test. of Fatih Eryigit, Nov. 6, 2020.) The Court refers to this restaurant as "Homeslyce Columbia."

3. 336 Charles LLC ("336 Charles") also does business as "Homeslyce," a pizza restaurant located at 336 Charles Street in Baltimore, Maryland. Kantar is a member of 336 Charles. (Kantar Test., Nov. 6, 2020.) 336 Charles is not a party in this case. The Court refers to this restaurant as "Homeslyce Mount Vernon."

4. Kantar is the creator and owner of Cazbar. (Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

5. Kantar is also a creator of Homeslyce, which now has locations in Maryland and D.C. (Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

6. Another Homeslyce restaurant is located at 1741 Light Street in Baltimore, Maryland. (Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020). The Court refers to this restaurant as "Homeslyce Federal Hill."

7. Kantar is an owner of multiple Homeslyce locations. He currently owns Homeslyce Mount Vernon and Homeslyce Federal Hill. Previously, he also owned Homeslyce Columbia, but sold it to Eryigit in 2017. (Kantar Test. Nov. 5, 2020; Eryigit Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

8. Prior to taking over ownership of Homeslyce Columbia, Eryigit had worked with Kantar at the Homeslyce restaurants since 2014. (Eryigit Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

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9. Ramirez came to the United States from Honduras and began working for Kantar at Homeslyce Federal Hill in October 2015. His primary job duties included washing dishes and preparing food for patrons. (Test. of Hernand Ramirez, Nov. 5, 2020.)

10. In March 2016, Ramirez left his job at Homeslyce Federal Hill and started working at Homeslyce Mount Vernon. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

11. Ramirez worked six days a week at Homeslyce Mount Vernon, every day except Tuesday. His schedule regularly included shifts from 10 AM to 11 PM. He sometimes worked as many as seventy-three hours in one week. On average, he worked sixty-four hours per week. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Pl.'s Ex. 8.)

12. Ramirez was paid a flat $1200 every two weeks while working at Homeslyce Mount Vernon. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

13. Kantar managed the Homeslyce Mount Vernon restaurant. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020).

14. In October 2016, Ramirez left his job at Homeslyce Mount Vernon to work for an unrelated establishment, because he hoped to earn better pay. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

15. Ramirez also worked for a brief time period at Cazbar, but makes no claims in this case related to his employment there. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

16. In March 2017, Ramirez started working at Homeslyce again, this time at the Columbia location. Eryigit suggested Ramirez could make more money working at Homeslyce Columbia. He was again hired as a kitchen staff employee, and his duties included cooking and preparing food. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Eryigit Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

17. At Homeslyce Columbia, Ramirez again worked six days a week and had Tuesdays off. He worked schedules with shifts from 10 AM to 11 PM, 11 AM to 12 PM, 3 PM to 11 PM,

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and 3 PM to 12 PM. On average, he worked sixty-two hours per week. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Pl.'s Ex. 2.)

18. While working at Homeslyce Columbia, he also rented a room from Eryigit at a home in Columbia. Another Homeslyce Columbia kitchen staff employee, Kelvin Rodriguez ("Rodriguez") also lived in the home and paid rent to Eryigit. Previously, Kantar owned the home. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Test. of Kelvin Rodriguez-Doubon, Nov. 5, 2020; Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Eryigit Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

19. Rodriguez worked hours similar to Ramirez while he was employed at Homeslyce Columbia. (Rodriguez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Eryigit Test. Nov. 6, 2020; Pl.'s Ex. 2.)

20. Eryigit provided Ramirez transportation to and from work. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Eryigit Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

21. Ramirez was paid a flat salary every two weeks at Homeslyce Columbia. He started at $1,200. In November 2017, his pay was increased to $1,300 every two weeks. Eventually in September 2018, his pay was increased again to $1,400 every two weeks.¹ (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Eryigit Test., Nov. 6, 2020; Pl.'s Ex. 1; Pl.'s Ex. 13.)

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22. Ramirez asked Eryigit for a pay raise, but Eryigit explained he would need to discuss the issue with Kantar before increasing Ramirez's salary. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

23. Neither Homeslyce Mount Vernon nor Homeslyce Columbia produced records of the hours Ramirez worked or wages he earned. (Pl.'s Ex. 6.)

24. Eryigit acted as one of Ramirez's supervisors. He worked at the Homeslyce Columbia restaurant daily, overseeing the restaurant's operations. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Rodriguez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Eryigit Test., Nov. 6, 2020; Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

25. Kantar also exercised significant control over Ramirez's wages and the conditions of his employment. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Kantar Test., Nov. 5-6, 2020.)

26. Kantar was at Homeslyce Columbia on at least a weekly basis. He commonly came to the restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Rodriguez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

27. Kantar regularly signed paychecks for employees at Homeslyce Columbia and brought the paychecks to the employees at the restaurant on paydays. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Rodriguez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

28. It is important to Kantar that all of the Homeslyce restaurants provide a uniform quality of service to their patrons. Kantar would make on-the-spot corrections to employees at Homeslyce Columbia if he thought they were not performing to this standard, for example, if he thought the staff's appearance was unprofessional or the food was being prepared improperly. (Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

29. While at Homeslyce Columbia, Kantar also helped out in other ways such as answering the phone or bringing food out from the kitchen when the restaurant was busy. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

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30. In October 2018, Kantar was at Homeslyce Columbia while Ramirez and Rodriguez were both working. Kantar thought Ramirez was not preparing salads correctly, so he corrected Ramirez and tried to explain a different way of doing it. Ramirez attempted to comply with Kantar's instructions, however, Kantar was still not satisfied with how Ramirez was dressing the salads. Kantar continued trying to explain the proper technique. The interaction ultimately became emotionally charged. Kantar eventually told Ramirez to "Go, Motherf***er!" Ramirez and Rodriguez both immediately left the restaurant in the middle of their shifts and have not worked at Homeslyce since. (Ramirez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Rodriguez Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020.)

31. Kantar has a "management agreement" with Eryigit and the owners of other Homeslyce locations, under which he provides services such as bookkeeping and menu development. Eryigit pays Kantar a monthly fee for these services. (Kantar Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

32. Kantar also provides other "management" services to Homeslyce Columbia and the rest of the Homeslyce locations. He provided a template for employee scheduling entitled "Homeslyce/Cazbar Schedule by Employee." (Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Pl.'s Ex. 2.)

33. All of the Homeslyce restaurants use one employee handbook with common policies for employees, including policies on overtime. (Kantar Test., Nov. 5, 2020; Pl.'s Ex. 15.)

34. The Homeslyce restaurants and Cazbar share one bookkeeper, who works out of the Cazbar location at 316 Charles Street. (Kantar Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

35. Each restaurant is responsible for processing the payroll for its employees. Each restaurant sends the amount owed to its employees to the bookkeeping office, where the checks are printed and signed by Kantar or another business associate in the office. (Kantar Test., Nov. 6, 2020.)

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36. The mailing address associated with Snowden River's Bank of America checking account is 316 Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland. The signature card for the account lists Kantar and Dogan Solis as signatories, but does not list Eryigit. (Pl.'s Ex. 10; Pl.'s Ex. 12.)

37. In addition to signing payroll checks for Snowden River, Kantar has frequently signed checks for Homeslyce Columbia's vendors, such as pest control services and food suppliers. (Kantar Test., Nov. 6, 2020; Pl.'s Ex. 17.)

38. Kantar and Eryigit understood their obligation under

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