Lawsuit filed against Catalina Beach Club in Atlantic Beach

Three Lynbrook residents, along with 72 other employees of the Catalina Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, claim that they were underpaid based on the current mandated wages and not paid for extra tasks in a class action lawsuit filed in Nassau County State Supreme Court in July.

The primary plaintiffs — Ethan Cohen, Jessie Cohen and Alex Cohen — are current and former employees of what is known as the Catalina Operating Corporation that runs the beach club. Ethan was a cabana attendant and Jessie and Alex are lifeguards at the club.

Ethan, according to the lawsuit, “worked long hours, often more than forty hours a week and often more than ten hours in a single day.”

The legal action also claims that the Catalina Operating Corporation paid “the other cabana, chair and locker attendants at the beach club illegally low wages, no overtime premiums … the workers were often not paid for all the hours they worked.” 

Ethan, an assistant attendant for his first two years of working at the club — 2020 and 2021 — along with the assistant attendants began working at 6 or 7 a.m. on weekends to get ready for shift that started at 9 a.m., but were not paid for the extra hours, the lawsuit claims.

“Through New York Labor Law you are given a notice of pay rate and wages and there are a number of requirements,” Patricia Kakalec, said in reference to employers knowing what they should be paying employees.

She is one of the two lawyers representing the Cohens and the other plaintiffs, along with Robert McCreanor.

Minimum wage per hour was $8.75 eight years ago and incrementally rose to the current $15 per hour in 2019. According to the lawsuit, Ethan and the other attendants were paid $8.65 per hour in 2020, $9.35 in 2021 as the club claimed a tip credit of $3.15 hour and $10 in 2022 with a tip credit of $3.20.

Assistant attendants could not clock in on time and gain access to accurate records of their time in effect recorded work hours “were often inaccurate,” according to the claims in the suit.

It is claimed that Ethan was paid for 95.08 hours for work performed from July 3 to July 16, 2022, but should have been paid for roughly 123 hours.

In the legal action, the attorneys defend their use of a class action claiming, “it would be difficult for members of the Attendant Class to effectively individually obtain redress for the wrongs done to them.”

The suit is looking for the employees to be paid the unpaid wages, along with additional 100 percent and the overtime pay that is owed those staff members. It is also asking for statutory damages of nor more than $5,000 for each employee for each day they worked and the alleged violations occurred.   

“So, the proposed class action is for the plaintiffs and all the other people seeking back pay for the past six years statute, the damages, the violations and for the employer to stop doing it, Kakalec said.

“Catalina has been serving guests for almost 80 years and Catalina intends to be around for at least another 80 years,” the law firm of Kaufman Dolowich Voluck, representing Catalina wrote in an email. “The club values all of its employees, who are relied upon every day for the smooth operation of the club. We are looking into this matter and will be responding to the complaint.”

The Catalina Beach Club and Atlantic Beach village was used more than a decade ago to film the television show “Suits.”