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Avoiding Double Recovery: Assessing Liquidated Damages In Private Wage And Hour Actions Under The Fair Labor Standards Act And The New York Labor Law, Alexander J. Callen

Fordham Law Review

Wage and hour cases are common in New York, yet courts calculate damages inconsistently when plaintiffs pursue their unpaid wages under both federal and state law. Overlapping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law both authorize private actions for the recovery of certain unpaid wages, and each also provides an additional 100 percent of the unpaid wages as liquidated damages unless the employer establishes a good-faith defense. Given these similarities, New York wage and hour cases regularly flirt with the double recovery doctrine, which prevents plaintiffs from receiving duplicative awards.

Historically, courts in the …