Caddies plan major escalation in their unfair labor practices lawsuit against Croton's Hudson National Golf Club.
The plaintiffs are asking the judge to allow a "collective action" that could add many additional former caddies to the lawsuit.
For more than a year, the Chronicle has been following a case filed in federal court by seven former caddies at the Hudson National Golf Club (HNGC) claiming that they were short-changed in their wages by, in essence, allegedly not being paid real wages at all. The caddies argue that while their work situation was effectively that of employees, they were treated as “independent contractors,” in violation of both federal and state fair labor laws.
The golf club has vigorously defended against the lawsuit, but so far they have failed to put a stop to it. Last September, the judge in the case, District Judge Kenneth M. Karas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, declined to dismiss the case, leaving most of the caddies's claims in active litigation.
Now, yesterday April 22, the lead attorney for the caddies, Clifford Tucker of the law firm Sacco & Villas, LLP, notified Judge Karas and the defendants that the plaintiffs will move to expand the lawsuit into a “collective action” under the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act. They are asking the court to order the club to produce the names and contact details of all caddies who have worked at the HNGC at any time since January 20, 2017, so that they can ask those caddies if they want to join the lawsuit.
The HNGC’s attorneys can be expected to strongly oppose this request, which could potentially multiply the number of plaintiffs—and any damages that might be awarded—by many times.
We will update this story as more details become available.
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Following this with interest. I caddied as a teenager into college, and it was a great "off books" job. I learned a lot. But it was at a Country Club....and there was a lot of sitting around waiting for loops. If you didn't sit around....you didn't get out. And there was no compensation for that time. So, some compensation for waiting should probably be fair if that's still the model. The basic rate was acceptable, and yes tips were a big part of what made it worth it. One year, I handled the Golf Carts and caddied on the side for the vendor they rented the carts from. That job was an on the books, paid job, SS ..etc. 3 Years later I was approached about my hours...and ended up getting a big check. Apparently our Federal Govt, even under Reagan, still cared about minimum wage, OT and hours worked. This would have been around 1983 or so.
I presume the caddies also worked for tips. I hope they claimed that $$ come tax time!