It is a fight to level the playing field to be able to compete for jobs and careers on the basis of skills and make available apprentice training to all. In 1973 Al Percy launched a class action lawsuit to give workers like him a chance to better their lot in life. It would also ensure the availability of skilled workers to build the infrastructure of the future.
Case 1:21-cv-01421-NGG Case MDL No. 3011 Document 1 25-6 Filed 03/17/21 Filed 06/24/21 Page 48 Page of 154 48 of PageID 154 #: 304 NUMEROSITY 348. The real Parties-in-Interest are the Class of employees of the Employers. Intervention Pg. 98 Par 202. 349. The number of members of the Class are essentially unenumerable but are not indeterminate. The members of the Class can be identified by payroll records, 940 and 941 reports to the Internal Revenue Service, and NYS 45 Reports to the State of New York filed by the Employers. Intervention Pg. 98 Par 203. 350. The number of members of the Percy Class are essentially unenumerable but are not indeterminate and have been identified in the Percy v. Brennan action Case 73-cv-04279 being enforced here. 351. There are two subclasses to the Class: Intervention Pg. 98 Par 204. 352. First- the sub-class of the Class is all employees injured on the job while working for the Employers. Intervention Pg. 98 Par 204. 353. Second- the sub-class of the Class is “black or Spanish-surnamed persons who are capable of performing, or capable of learning to perform” in skilled occupations (herein the “Percy Sub-Class”) entitled to apprentice training and continuing education in safety and skills. Intervention Pg. 99 Par 204. 354. Both sub-classes are united in interest with the Class. Intervention Pg. 99 Par 205. 355. The Class Plaintiff replaces the redacted names of persons listed as Defendant Employees in a motion to intervene in Nassau County Action 60987/2019, to protect the confidentiality of the individuals by proceeding as a Class of Employees entitled to benefits. Donna Hodge, Annette Hall, Karen Grant Williams and Alexi Arias are the class representatives of the Class Plaintiff. Intervention Pg. 99 Par 206. CLASS ACTION COMMON ISSUES OF LAW AND FACT 356. There is a commonality of the members of the Class as participants in a welfare plan sponsored by the Employers, for health, disability and workers’ compensation, apprenticeship, training, continuing education, safety benefits. Intervention Pg. 99 Par 207. 357. Neither the State Government Agencies, State Officer Defendants nor the Owner Operator Defendants had policies and procedures in place to provide common sense control of the use of Plan assets; it was and is as though no one was monitoring the use of Plan assets to assure they benefited the Class of employees working for the Employers for whom the Plan assets were paid as represented by the Owner Operator Defendants. Detailed in this Complaint are the tens of millions of dollars represented to provide 48
Case 1:21-cv-01421-NGG Case MDL No. 3011 Document 1 25-6 Filed 03/17/21 Filed 06/24/21 Page 49 Page of 154 49 of PageID 154 #: 305 benefits to the employee Class, which instead were diverted and converted to prohibited transactions in violation of ERISA, and embezzled. 358. The issues of law and fact determining the claims of the Class, that the actions of the Defendant Employers named in this action and the tag-along actions, have caused, are causing, and will continue to cause serious, permanent, and irreparable economic and social injury and damage to the Class, are common to all members of the Class. Intervention Pg. 99 Par 208. 359. The common issues of law and fact must be determined by this Court in order to fashion an appropriate remedy and provide relief for the benefit of the Class. Intervention Pg. 99 Par 209. JUDICIAL ECONOMY 360. The Defendant Government Agencies and State Officer Defendants, individually and collectively, alone and in concert with other still unidentified parties, cloaking themselves under the color of law, utilized and are still utilizing all the power of their government offices, in capricious and conspiratorial disregard to deny and to inflict damages on the Class without justification. The Percy Class has been denied and deprived of an opportunity to compete effectively within the American free enterprise system and as a result the members of the Percy Class have sustained serious and ongoing damages, and if the wrongdoing of the Defendants is not enjoined and prevented, the chronic damage will continue unabated. 361. This action avoids the prosecution of separate actions by multiplicity of actions involving the same individual members of the Class against the Owner Operator Defendants which would create a likelihood of inconsistent or varying adjudications with respect to individual members of the Class. Intervention Pg. 99 Par 210. 362. The issues of law and fact determining the claims of the Percy Class, that the actions of the Defendant State and its DFS and the Employers named in this action, have caused, are causing, and will continue to cause serious, permanent and irreparable economic and social injury and damage to the Percy Class, are common to all members of the Class. CLASS COUNSEL 363. The credentials of the legal team are set forth in a separate submission being filed with this Complaint on the adequacy of the proposed Representatives and Counsel to show that "the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a)(4) by (1) absence of conflict and (2) assurance of vigorous prosecution. Class Counsel and the proposed class representatives meet the requirements of Rule 23(a)(4). 49
