Murphy Anderson Settles Wage Case Against Global Storage Giant

June 14, 2024

Murphy Anderson PLLC, along with Handley Farah & Anderson and the Legal Aid Justice Center, settled a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) case against Janus International Group Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  The settlement was obtained shortly after the Court denied Janus’s motion to dismiss the Complaint’s allegations of joint-employer liability. 

The Settlement with Janus International Group resolves the workers’ wage-theft claims and recovers their unpaid wages for their construction work building self-storage facilities for Janus. The Complaint alleges that the employers did not pay the workers for all wages due, including overtime, and that they improperly deducted amounts from the wages they did pay.

The Plaintiffs are preparing to seek default judgment to resolve the workers’ trafficking claims against Angel Storage Construction LLC and the individuals who operate it — Mario Angel and Clara Ramirez. As to this claim (not brought against Janus), the Complaint alleges that the Angel Storage Defendants lured the workers — vulnerable, recently arrived immigrants — to work on Janus’s projects by offering domestic travel, hourly wages, and temporary housing. Instead, the workers allege the Angel Defendants forced them to work long hours under grueling conditions and with little pay. The Complaint alleges these defendants coerced the workers to stay against their will through, among other things, verbal abuse, threats of deportation, and withholding their wages.

Murphy Anderson attorneys Mark Hanna and Nicole Rubin represented the workers along with co-counsel from Handley Farah & Anderson attorneys Matthew Handley and Rachel Nadas, and Legal Aid Justice Center attorneys Jason Yarashes, Kristin Donovan, and Rachel McFarland.