Professional Documents
Culture Documents
91 - Brief For Defendant-Appellees
91 - Brief For Defendant-Appellees
20-3989
United States Court of Appeals
for the Second Circuit
________________________________________
have a parent company, and no publicly held corporation owns 10% or more of De-
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT ......................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... ii
ARGUMENT ...........................................................................................................13
I. This Court Lacks Jurisdiction Over Plaintiffs’ Claims For Injunctive
And Declaratory Relief ..................................................................................13
ii
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
(continued)
Page
III. Plaintiffs Also Fail To State Section 200 And Public-Nuisance Claims ......30
A. Plaintiffs Fail To State A Section 200 Claim ......................................30
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(continued)
Page
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................61
iv
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Page(s)
Cases
In re AFL-CIO,
2020 WL 3125324 (D.C. Cir. June 11, 2020) ....................................................21
v
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
Caronia v. Philip Morris USA, Inc.,
22 N.Y.3d 439 (2013) .............................................................................35, 36, 37
Cavalotti v. Daddyo’s BBQ, Inc.,
2018 WL 5456654 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2018) .....................................................55
vi
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
Donovan v. OSHRC,
713 F.2d 918 (2d Cir. 1983) ...............................................................................33
Duffy v. Baldwin,
124 N.Y.S.3d 110 (3d App. Div. 2020) ..............................................................39
Greenberg v. Sutter,
661 N.Y.S.2d 933 (Sup. Ct. 1997)......................................................................50
Haider v. Davis,
827 N.Y.S.2d 179 (2d App. Div. 2006) ..............................................................30
Haire v. Bonelli,
870 N.Y.S.2d 591 (3d App. Div. 2008) ..............................................................45
vii
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
Hicks v. Allegheny E. Conf. Ass’n of Seventh-Day Adventists,
712 A.2d 1021 (D.C. Ct. App. 1998)..................................................................54
Huston v. Hayden Bldg. Maint. Corp.,
617 N.Y.S.2d 335 (2d App. Div. 1994) ..............................................................37
Ileto v. Glock,
349 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir. 2003) ............................................................................44
Incorporated Vill. of Garden City v. Genesco, Inc.,
2009 WL 3081724 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2009) ...................................................38
viii
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
N.Y.C. Emps. Ret. Sys. v. Dole Food Co.,
969 F.2d 1430 (2d Cir. 1992) .............................................................................16
Nader v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc.,
426 U.S. 290 (1976) ............................................................................................26
People v. Pymm,
76 N.Y.2d 511 (1990) .........................................................................................34
Pettaway v. Nat’l Recovery Sols., LLC,
955 F.3d 299 (2d Cir. 2020) ...............................................................................54
Raritan Dev. Corp. v. Silva,
91 N.Y.2d 98 (1997) ...........................................................................................57
ix
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
Shain v. Ellison,
356 F.3d 211 (2d Cir. 2004) .........................................................................13, 17
Shanahan v. Monarch Eng’g Co.,
219 N.Y. 469 (1916) .....................................................................................49, 50
x
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc.,
686 F.3d 832 (D.C. Cir. 2012) ............................................................................18
United States v. W. Pac. R.R. Co.,
352 U.S. 59 (1956) ..................................................................................19, 20, 27
Statutes
29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(4)...............................................................................................33
29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1) .........................................................................................25, 32
29 U.S.C. § 657 ............................................................................................21, 22, 29
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
29 U.S.C. § 667(b) ...................................................................................................34
Treatises
Other Authorities
xii
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
(continued)
Page(s)
Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety
(Jan. 21, 2021)...............................................................................................25, 26
N.Y. Dep’t of Health, Interim Guidance for the Wholesale Trade
Sector (June 26, 2020) ....................................................................................5, 28
N.Y. Dep’t of Labor, New York Paid Family Leave COVID-19: FAQs ...........57, 58
xiii
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INTRODUCTION
Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has the expertise
and authority to evaluate and balance workplace safety against the need for essential
businesses to continue providing services during the pandemic. It has exercised that
authority throughout the pandemic, and President Biden has reaffirmed OSHA’s role
OSHA alone has the expertise and resources to conduct on-the-ground inspections
Inc. and Amazon.com Services, LLC (together, “Amazon”). Plaintiffs claim that in
their view Amazon should do more to protect employees from COVID-19. Instead
of availing themselves of OSHA’s primary jurisdiction, however, they filed this law-
suit asking the district court to dictate “safe” practices at JFK8 during an evolving
of the facility. It is difficult to imagine a task less suited to the judiciary. The pri-
demic is critical to allowing people across the country to obtain the supplies
necessary to sustain their lives, protect their health, and adhere to stay-at-home
ment requirements and guidance, and even creating its own testing laboratories.
and breach of New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) Section 200’s requirement to secure
workplaces from physical danger, and seeking COVID-19 leave pay under NYLL
Section 191, which sets forth statutory requirements for timely payment of wages.
Plaintiffs ask for a sweeping injunction awarding them a variety of benefits above
and beyond their terms of employment—essentially inviting the district court to as-
sume OSHA’s role of workplace regulator at JFK8, wade deeply into the rapidly
day-to-day operations.
The district court correctly dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims under the primary-ju-
risdiction doctrine. Plaintiffs asked the district court to, for example, dictate
Amazon’s productivity practices, set the amount of paid time off, and enumerate the
2
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Plaintiffs’ claims fail for other reasons as well. As a threshold matter, Plain-
tiffs lack standing to seek injunctive relief changing the terms of employment at
JFK8. Plaintiffs fail to allege non-speculative facts that connect their asserted in-
policies, and other human-resource practices at issue in this lawsuit. Plaintiffs also
New York law that requires employers to pay employees for the time they are on
quarantine leave. Moreover, many of their specific challenges are now moot in light
of changes that they admit Amazon has already made in response to the pandemic.
Plaintiffs’ claims also fail on the merits. The federal Occupational Safety and
Health Act (“OSH Act”) preempts Plaintiffs’ Section 200 claim seeking sweeping
injunctive relief. Further, Section 200 does not permit claims based on future harm.
may bring such claims only if they can allege an injury that is different in kind, not
merely degree, from harms suffered by the public at large. The alleged “harm” in
this case, the risk of contracting COVID-19, is the exact same kind of harm faced by
everyone in the world during this pandemic. In any event, public-nuisance law does
and public-nuisance claims fail for the additional reason that New York’s Workers’
3
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Compensation Law precludes any judicial suit for workplace injury, no matter what
19 quarantine leave fail. Employee-Plaintiffs allege that they were owed quarantine-
based sick leave under New York’s COVID-19 Leave Law. As the district court
concluded, however, Section 191’s timing requirements apply only to “wages,” not
STATEMENT OF ISSUES
its JFK8 distribution center based on speculative allegations that those policies might
2. Whether, as the district court held, Plaintiffs’ request for sweeping in-
junctive relief—which asks the district court to fashion, enforce, and supervise
cause that agency has the technical expertise, resources, and primary responsibility
4
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200 and public-nuisance claims on the alternative ground that neither claim allows
private plaintiffs, who complain of the alleged risk of future harm, to seek injunctive
4. Whether the district court correctly held that the plain terms of NYLL
Section 191’s timing requirements for paying “wages” do not apply to quarantine-
leave benefits.
JFK8 is a large Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island that employs sev-
eral thousand employees. See JA-71, 88. It “runs twenty-four hours a day, seven
suit against Amazon in June 2020, months after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold
in New York. ECF 1. The Complaint challenges Amazon’s wage, productivity, and
leave policies, contending that they do not comply with New York’s Interim Guid-
ance for the Wholesale Trade Sector. See N.Y. Dep’t of Health, Interim Guidance
5
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for the Wholesale Trade Sector (June 26, 2020), https://tinyurl.com/yb69p75y (“In-
terim Guidance”). 1
Plaintiffs claim that JFK8 is a “public nuisance” (Count I), and that Amazon
violates NYLL § 200 by purportedly failing to provide a safe workplace (Count II).
Employee-Plaintiffs also allege that Amazon violated NYLL § 191 by failing to pay
tative class claim under Section 191 seeking an injunction against future untimely
tion that would place operations at JFK8 under judicial supervision. JA-123–25.
1
Plaintiffs’ allegations of an unsafe workplace are meritless. Amazon has adopted
state-of-the-art safety measures to protect its employees. Indeed, in March 2020, the
New York City Sheriff ’s Office conducted an unannounced inspection at JFK8, and
then conducted a follow-up visit the next day. The officials concluded that com-
plaints about JFK8’s compliance with COVID-19 guidelines were “baseless” and
that Amazon’s health and safety measures go “above and beyond” compliance re-
quirements; the officials accordingly reported that “there were absolutely no areas
of concern.” ECF 44-20 (email from Lt. Derek Skuzenski, Ph.D., New York City
Sheriff ’s Office).
6
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• Provide employees with “adequate” time and tools to clean and disinfect their
workstations, and communicate “in writing” to all new employees that time
spent cleaning workstations will not count as TOT;
• “Allow workers immediate access to 48 hours of [paid time off] even if they
have not yet accrued all 48 hours based on their amount of time working at
Amazon.”
JA-123–25.
March 2020, and that Amazon communicated this to employees at JFK8 through
mass emails and on message boards throughout the facility. JA-106. Indeed, Plain-
tiffs abandoned their motion for a preliminary injunction and amended their
Complaint when Amazon posted these communications in July 2020. ECF Nos. 6,
7
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60, 63. Plaintiffs represented to the district court that “workers now know that, with-
out fear of discipline, they can wash their hands, socially distance, and clean up after
The district court dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ claims. The court concluded that
Plaintiffs’ public-nuisance and Section 200 claims are subject to OSHA’s primary
jurisdiction because the claims and proposed relief “go to the heart of OSHA’s ex-
pertise and discretion.” JA-134–38. By contrast, “courts are not expert in public
health or workplace safety matters, and lack the training, expertise, and resources to
oversee compliance with evolving industry guidance.” JA-137. “No doubt,” the
district court noted, “shutting down JFK8 completely during the pandemic while
continuing to provide employees with pay and benefits would be the best protection
against contagion at the workplace.” JA-136–37. But OSHA, rather than the courts,
The district court also held in the alternative that Plaintiffs failed to state a
public-nuisance claim. Plaintiffs’ allegations did not support a private action for
2
Although Amazon subsequently reinstated performance measures, current metrics
are based on average productivity during September 2020 (when productivity goals
were suspended), so employees have extra time to sanitize their work areas, wash
their hands, and remain socially distant. See ECF 72. Employees also have the
opportunity to explain whether pandemic-related safety precautions contributed to
their performance issues. Id. at 2.
8
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public nuisance because “[b]oth [their] concern and their risk present a difference in
degree, not kind, from the injury suffered by the public at large.” JA-140.
Plaintiffs also failed to state a Section 200 claim. Any claim for past harm is
sive and in place of “any other liability whatsoever” for injuries suffered in the
also precludes Plaintiffs’ attempts to “thwart the purposes of the [NYWCL] and the
46. Nor can Plaintiffs maintain a Section 200 claim for risk of future exposure to
COVID-19 because New York courts treat a Section 200 claim as “essentially a
claim for common law negligence,” and “the threat of future harm does not provide
a valid basis for a tort claim” under New York law. JA-146–47.
The district court concluded that the OSH Act does not preempt Plaintiffs’
Section 200 claim, but noted that Plaintiffs’ request that the court “create and enforce
a scheme of workplace safety standards” “is in tension with the OSH Act” and cre-
Finally, the district court held that Plaintiffs failed to state claims under Sec-
benefits are not “wages” for purposes of Section 191; instead, they “constitute[ ] a
9
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benefit or wage supplement like vacation and holiday pay” to which Section 191 is
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
I. Plaintiffs lack Article III standing. They seek injunctive relief based on
their alleged risk and fear of contracting COVID-19. These are generalized injuries
that are not caused by any of Amazon’s policies and cannot be redressed by the relief
that Plaintiffs request. Article III similarly precludes Plaintiffs’ claim for an injunc-
tion against Amazon’s hypothetical future failure to timely pay quarantine benefits
based on the speculative possibility that Plaintiffs might someday qualify for those
cies independently are moot because Amazon stopped enforcing the policies they
Plaintiffs seek sweeping injunctive relief that would foist the court into the role of
Guidance on which Plaintiffs purport to rely. Such technical and policy decisions
10
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reside within the primary responsibility of the agency that Congress tasked with reg-
ulating workplace safety, not with federal courts that lack the agency’s investigative
powers, expertise, and resources. President Biden’s recent order that OSHA issue
the correctness of the district court’s decision to defer to OSHA to resolve Plaintiffs’
III. The district court correctly held in the alternative that Plaintiffs fail to
A. Plaintiffs’ Section 200 claim fails for two independent reasons. First, the
OSH Act preempts Plaintiffs’ attempt to use Section 200 to craft a state workplace-
safety regime in an area subject to federal standards. Second, Plaintiffs’ Section 200
claim based on alleged risk of future exposure to COVID-19 fails because a threat
most, Plaintiffs allege that they are at greater risk than other New Yorkers, but that
law to allow them to bring a public-nuisance action. Nor does public-nuisance law
11
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barred by Section 11 of the New York Workers’ Compensation Law, which provides
that workers’ compensation “shall be exclusive and in place of any other liability
whatsoever” for workplace injury. Plaintiffs attempt to plead around this bar by
seeking injunctive relief, but Section 11 precludes employees from bringing judicial
suits against their employers for workplace injury regardless of the relief sought.
tion 191 claims for quarantine benefits allegedly owed under New York’s COVID-
19 Leave Law. Section 191 governs the timing of “wages,” not “benefits,” and, as
page of a State website that New York itself has rejected in its amicus brief in this
case. Additionally, Section 191 applies only to wages that employers are contractu-
ally obligated to pay, and thus is inapplicable to statutorily required wages. In any
event, Plaintiffs do not dispute that they never received a quarantine order from a
government entity, and thus they were not entitled to quarantine benefits in the first
place.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
The Court reviews the district court’s conclusion that Plaintiffs fail to state a
claim de novo. Gallop v. Cheney, 642 F.3d 364, 368 (2d Cir. 2011). The Court may
12
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“affirm the judgment on any basis that is supported by the record.” Crawford v.
Franklin Credit Mgmt. Corp., 758 F.3d 473, 482 (2d Cir. 2014).
This Court has explained that the standard of review for a district court’s pri-
AT&T, 46 F.3d 220, 222 (2d Cir. 1995). The Court has also, however, “emphasize[d]
Inc., 296 F.3d 65, 72 (2d Cir. 2002). The Circuits are split on whether review of a
Inst., Inc. v. Soo Line R.R., 792 F.3d 903, 908 (8th Cir. 2015). Amazon respectfully
preserves its argument that the appropriate standard is abuse of discretion, but the
ARGUMENT
Plaintiffs’ claims for injunctive and declaratory relief fail for lack of Article
3
The court below declined to reach Amazon’s arguments that Plaintiffs’ claims
were non-justiciable and that Plaintiffs failed to plausibly plead causation, see JA-
147 n.21, but these arguments provide an independent basis on which to affirm the
court’s judgment dismissing these claims without prejudice.
13
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plaintiff must show: (1) “an injury in fact” that is “concrete and particularized and
actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical,” (2) that the injury “is fairly
traceable to the challenged conduct of the defendant,” and (3) that it is “likely,” as
opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will “be redressed by a favorable de-
cision.” Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 1547–48 (2016). Plaintiffs cannot
rely on allegations of past injury; instead, “the injury or threat of injury must be both
real and immediate.” Shain v. Ellison, 356 F.3d 211, 215 (2d Cir. 2004) (alterations
omitted). Plaintiffs’ claims for injunctive and declaratory relief fall far short of these
requirements.
home and entering a public space during a pandemic arguably places one at increased
risk of contracting the virus—but so do innumerable other activities that are part of
everyday life. The risk of exposure to a virus during a pandemic and the resulting
fear are common to society at large, not specific to employees at JFK8. These “gen-
“particularized” injury. Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 573–75 (1992).
14
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Plaintiffs also fail to show that any risk of exposure to COVID-19 is “fairly
traceable to” the wage, productivity, and leave policies that they challenge. Clapper
v. Amnesty Int’l USA, 568 U.S. 398, 409 (2013). Instead, Plaintiffs’ challenge “relies
on a highly attenuated chain of possibilities,” id. at 410; for example, that an em-
ployee might ignore Amazon’s current productivity requirements (which take into
account time needed for hygiene and health and safety measures) by not “tak[ing]
from other employees in the hallways or bathroom (in violation of Amazon’s social-
sult. JA-108–09.
19,” Br. 31, and they concede that it is everywhere in New York, see JA-81–82.
transit,” and “interact[ing] with their families and with other members of the public
as they undertake their day-to-day activities, like grocery shopping and using public
transportation.” JA-89, 118. Given the risk of exposure inherent in these activities,
the unavoidable risk of exposure to COVID-19 in any essential workplace, and the
difficulty of tracing such sources of exposure, any argument that Plaintiffs’ alleged
15
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exposure to COVID-19 is “fairly traceable” to the workplace policies that they chal-
jury can be remedied by the requested relief.” Coal. of Watershed Towns v. EPA,
552 F.3d 216, 218 (2d Cir. 2008). Even if Plaintiffs obtained a broad injunction
Plaintiffs would “be in any different position than they are now” with regard to their
risk of exposure to COVID-19. Id. Indeed, Plaintiffs never explain in any remotely
concrete way how their requested injunctive relief—such as that Amazon continue
conditioning would be turned off during the winter months when COVID-19 rates
JFK8. Steel Co. v. Citizens For A Better Env’t, 523 U.S. 83, 107 (1998).
Plaintiffs also lack standing to pursue their claim for injunctive relief under
Section 191’s requirement to timely pay wages. Plaintiffs asked the district court to
enter an injunction dictating when Amazon must pay quarantine-leave benefits un-
der New York’s COVID-19 Leave Law, JA-124, but they fail to allege any actual or
imminent injury, see Spokeo, 136 S. Ct. at 1548. Rather, Plaintiffs allege only that
16
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they are “concerned that if they become eligible for COVID-19 paid leave, Defend-
ants will fail to pay them their earned wages for COVID-19 paid leave on a timely
ities,” and therefore does not come close to a “certainly impending” injury that
washing and bathroom breaks against TOT requirements.” JA-124. But Plaintiffs
acknowledge that in July 2020, Amazon confirmed to JFK8 employees that “time
ing the restroom would not be subject to feedback related to TOT.” JA-105. As a
result, the request is moot because “the issues presented are no longer live.” N.Y.C.
Emps.’ Ret. Sys. v. Dole Food Co., 969 F.2d 1430, 1433 (2d Cir. 1992).
tiffs filed this lawsuit—and “Amazon communicated” this “to all workers” at least
17
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by July 2020. JA-106; ECF 60, at 1. 4 Thus, because the policies that Plaintiffs
challenge “no longer exist[ ],” Plaintiffs’ requests for injunctive relief regarding
those policies are moot. Dean v. Blumenthal, 577 F.3d 60, 64–65 (2d Cir. 2009).5
In sum, Plaintiffs’ claims are rooted in generalized fears shared by all citizens
and not fairly traceable to Amazon’s JFK8 facility or redressable by the judgment
they seek. Their claims regarding Amazon’s specific productivity polices are also
ances such as these. If Plaintiffs wish to pursue their speculative theories, federal
courts are not the forum. Instead, they can present them to the regulator charged
tor at JFK8 and to fashion, enforce, and supervise a range of COVID-19 and other
4
Although Amazon implemented a new productivity policy starting in October
2020, see ECF 72, Amazon did not reinstate its pre-pandemic policy, as Plaintiffs
suggest, Br. 12. Rather, Amazon’s revised productivity goals build in extra time for
sanitation and are based on employees’ average productivity during September
2020—when productivity goals were temporarily suspended. See ECF 72.
5
Any threat of future harm related to Plaintiffs’ complaints about inadequate air
conditioning would be entirely “speculative and conjectural,” since the circum-
stances of the COVID-19 pandemic will be different by next summer. Shain, 356
F.3d at 216. And the evolving nature of the pandemic and the ongoing vaccination
efforts could create additional mootness concerns.
18
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workplace policies that are neither required nor even recommended by the flexible
Interim Guidance on which Plaintiffs purport to rely. The district court rightly de-
clined Plaintiffs’ invitation. As the district court concluded, Plaintiffs’ claims do not
“simply require the application of law to disputed facts”; rather, they ask the district
protect the safety of [JFK8] workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.” JA-136–37.
This is not the job of a federal court. Instituting Plaintiffs’ preferred work-
case for the primary-jurisdiction doctrine. See Kappelmann v. Delta Air Lines, Inc.,
539 F.2d 165, 169 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (concluding that the primary-jurisdiction doc-
United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc., 686 F.3d 832, 838 (D.C. Cir. 2012) (noting
tion requirement” under which a district court dismisses or stays a case to allow an
administrative agency in the first instance to resolve issues that “have been placed
within [its] special competence.” Goya Foods, Inc. v. Tropicana Prods., Inc., 846
F.2d 848, 851 (2d Cir. 1988). The doctrine “allocate[s] the law-making power over
19
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Pac. R.R. Co., 352 U.S. 59, 65 (1956). “Recourse to the doctrine of primary juris-
diction is thus appropriate whenever enforcement of [a] claim requires the resolution
of issues which, under a regulatory scheme, have been placed within the special
“No fixed formula exists” for applying the doctrine. W. Pac. R. Co., 352 U.S.
at 64. “Rather, in every case the question is whether” the doctrine’s application will
aid two purposes: “the desire for uniformity and the reliance on administrative ex-
pertise.” Tassy, 296 F.3d at 68. To answer this question, courts focus on four
factors: “(1) whether the question at issue is within the conventional experience of
particular field of expertise; (2) whether the question at issue is particularly within
the agency’s discretion; (3) whether there exists a substantial danger of inconsistent
rulings; and (4) whether a prior application to the agency has been made.” Ellis, 443
F.3d at 82–83. Courts also “balance the advantages of applying the doctrine against
the potential costs resulting from complications and delay in the administrative pro-
20
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As the district court correctly concluded, all of these factors support deferring
workplace safety.
tions within [OSHA’s] field of expertise,” and questions regarding the adequacy of
the courts’ “discretion.” Ellis, 443 F.3d at 83. Plaintiffs have asked the district court
to craft out of whole cloth a series of regulations applicable to JFK8 alone. This is
not the core competence of courts. OSHA—“the federal agency within the Depart-
ment of Labor specifically charged with regulating health and safety in the
providing research, information, education, and training to assure safe and healthful
The D.C. Circuit recently made clear that OSHA is entitled to “considerable
In re AFL-CIO, 2020 WL 3125324, at *1 (D.C. Cir. June 11, 2020) (per curiam).
Indeed, OSHA possesses investigative powers and resources that courts lack. The
21
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agency has thousands of inspectors with the power to enter, examine, and investigate
places of employment, and to require the testimony of witnesses and the production
The Secretary of Labor may also issue citations and penalties to employers
that violate a federal standard. Id. §§ 658–659. Those enforcement actions are then
missioners whose decisions are reviewable by federal courts of appeals. Id. §§ 660–
661.
Yet rather than turn to OSHA, Plaintiffs rushed into court, flanked by an army
of amici, asking the district court to decide in the abstract what is and is not “safe”
failure to avail themselves of the administrative forum that has the investigative re-
sources and expertise to address this complex environment is reason enough to reject
these claims.
Plaintiffs argue (at 23) that the district court should have simply “h[e]ld Am-
azon” to the “New York Forward” Interim Guidance, but that argument does not
22
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legal effect but [is] merely explanatory.” N.Y. A.P.A. Law § 102(2)(b)(iv). To the
extent that the Interim Guidance incorporates federal guidance, the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services Centers For Disease Control (“CDC”)’s COVID-19
guidance documents are “not binding” either. United States v. Wragg, 2020 WL
claims [do not] simply require the application of law to disputed facts.” JA-136.
Instead, they require specialized expertise and policy judgment. “The central issue
in this case is whether Amazon’s workplace policies at JFK8 adequately protect the
safety of its workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.” JA-136. Because the relief
that Plaintiffs seek “involves detailed aspects of how Amazon regulates its work-
place,” their claims “turn on factual issues requiring both technical and policy
expertise.” JA-137.
Moreover, the relief that Plaintiffs seek bears little relationship to the Interim
23
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• establish policies governing when employees need “not attend work,” and
mandate that Amazon “[c]ontinue” to communicate its internal productiv-
ity policies “in writing,” JA-123, even though the Interim Guidance (at 7)
suggests only that entities “should” develop “a communications plan,”
without dictating medium or content;
Plaintiffs asked the district court to assess not a “pinpoint” legal matter, but an “ab-
stract” technical question that should “be reviewed by an agency.” Nat’l Commc’ns
539 F.2d at 174, is far outside courts’ “conventional experience,” and instead resides
“This does not mean, however, that OSHA has abdicated its responsibilities during
the pandemic.” JA-136. To the contrary, as the Department of Labor recently em-
24
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workplace that “pair[s] a broad arsenal of guidance materials with aggressive en-
employees.” Dep’t of Labor Br. 33, AFT v. OSHA, Dkt. 13-1, No. 20-73203 (9th
Cir. Dec. 31, 2020) (“DOL Br.”). “This includes conducting more than 1,430
to protect workers from infectious diseases like COVID-19, such as obligations in-
equipment (id. §§ 1910.136, .133), and “sanitation” (id. § 1910.141). DOL Br. at 4.
OSHA has also made clear that the OSH Act’s general-duty clause, 29 U.S.C.
COVID-19. DOL Br. at 31–32. And “OSHA has issued extensive guidance” in-
https://tinyurl.com/wxa7z2p.
Executive Order declaring that “[t]he Federal Government must take swift action to
reduce the risk that workers may contract COVID-19 in the workplace.” Executive
25
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Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety § 1, ¶ 2 (Jan. 21, 2021), https://ti-
safety during the COVID-19 pandemic,” to “consider whether any emergency tem-
porary standards … are necessary” and, if so, “issue them by March 15, 2021,” and
Pursuant to the Executive Order, OSHA has issued guidance making clear that
“[a]ll of OSHA’s standards that apply to protecting workers from infection remain
tection from bloodborne pathogens,” and the requirement “under the General Duty
Clause” to “provide a safe and healthful workplace that is free from recognized haz-
ards that can cause serious physical harm or death.” OSHA, Protecting Workers:
own terms, Plaintiffs argue that the doctrine does not apply to “common law theories
of liability,” Br. 22. But Plaintiffs’ own authority forecloses that argument. In
Nader v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc., the Supreme Court made clear that the primary-
26
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remedies survive.” 426 U.S. 290, 303 (1976) (emphasis added). No matter the cause
of action, the doctrine “comes into play whenever enforcement of the claim requires
the resolution of issues which, under a regulatory scheme, have been placed within
the special competence of an administrative body.” W. Pac. R.R. Co., 352 U.S. at
64 (emphasis added).
workers’ rights under state law.” Br. 26. The OSH Act preserves only suits seeking
“existing state statutory and common-law remedies for actual injury and death.” At-
las Roofing Co., Inc. v. OSHRC, 430 U.S. 442, 445 (1977). Plaintiffs seek nothing
of the sort. By contrast, they have requested a sweeping injunction that would take
over operations at JFK8, all on the basis of the alleged risk of future injury. More-
over, New York never “develop[ed] [its] own workplace health and safety
Hosp., 665 N.Y.S.2d 773, 777 (4th App. Div. 1997), so the OSH Act’s allowance
Plaintiffs further contend that OSHA is not relevant here because the Interim
Guidance is not an occupational regulation. Br. 27 n.4. But the Interim Guidance is
“directed at workplace safety” rather than the public at large. Gade v. Nat’l Solid
27
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Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n, 505 U.S. 88, 107 (1992). Whereas the regulations in Steel In-
stitute of New York v. City of New York, 716 F.3d 31 (2d Cir. 2013), “expressly
excluded ” workplace activity from their scope, id. at 38, the Interim Guidance ad-
references to customers and visitors. Interim Guidance at 1–9; JA-83–84. That the
guidance may “also have a nonoccupational impact does not render it” a law of gen-
Deference to OSHA would also ensure uniformity, which is crucial in the con-
JA-137; see also Rural Cmty. Workers All. v. Smithfield Foods, Inc., 459 F. Supp.
3d 1228, 1241 (W.D. Mo. 2020). If individual courts were to invade OSHA’s prov-
“Courts are particularly ill-suited to address this evolving situation and the risk of
A determination by OSHA, on the other hand, would be more flexible and could
28
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sential employers such as Amazon, which perform services that are vital to the
public. It is crucial that they continue to operate efficiently and without legal uncer-
administrative process by ignoring it, preemptively filing suit, and then hiding be-
hind the fourth Ellis factor, which considers whether an application to the agency
has been made. See, e.g., Bernhardt v. Pfizer, Inc., 2000 WL 1738645, at *3
(S.D.N.Y. Nov. 22, 2000) (highlighting that the fourth factor is not dispositive).
“Because plaintiff[s] chose not to litigate this issue before [OSHA], the district court
correctly avoided ruling on the merits of [their] claim[s].” Heilweil v. Mount Sinai
Finally, “the advantages of applying the doctrine outweigh the potential costs
29
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waiting for OSHA’s citation process, Br. 29, but a few months hardly qualifies as
“delay” compared to the timeline of typical litigation. Indeed, OSHA can seek im-
mediate relief where warranted. 29 U.S.C. §§ 658, 662. Administrative delay must
F.3d at 225. Moreover, Plaintiffs cannot complain of delay given that they did not
file suit until three months after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in New York,
they abandoned their request for a preliminary injunction, and they never com-
plained to OSHA. See JA-138 (“[A]t least part of the responsibility for that delay
lies with plaintiffs. Plaintiffs decided not to pursue emergency relief in this case and
III. Plaintiffs Also Fail To State Section 200 And Public-Nuisance Claims.
This Court can also affirm the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ Section
200 and public-nuisance claims on the alternative ground that Plaintiffs fail to state
a claim.
Section 200 provides that sites governed by New York’s Labor Law “shall be
and adequate protection to the lives, health and safety of all persons employed
therein or lawfully frequenting such places.” NYLL § 200(1). Section 200 claims
are analyzed the same way as common-law negligence claims, Haider v. Davis, 827
30
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N.Y.S.2d 179, 180 (2d App. Div. 2006), and their elements are: “(i) a duty owed to
the plaintiff by the defendant; (ii) breach of that duty; and (iii) injury substantially
caused by that breach,” Pasternack v. Lab. Corp. of Am. Holdings, 807 F.3d 14, 19
(2d Cir. 2015). Plaintiffs’ Section 200 claim fails because (1) the OSH Act preempts
it, and (2) a Section 200 claim cannot be premised on a risk of future injury.
Act preempts Plaintiffs’ Section 200 claim. 6 The OSH Act provides that “[n]othing
in this chapter shall prevent any State agency or court from asserting jurisdiction
under State law over any occupational safety or health issue with respect to which
no standard is in effect under section 655 of this title.” 29 U.S.C. § 667(a). These
health and safety standard on an issue for which OSHA has already promulgated a
standard, unless the State has obtained the Secretary’s approval for its own plan.”
Gade, 505 U.S. at 97 (plurality). New York has not done so. Any state law that has
6
Contrary to Plaintiffs’ suggestion (at 26), appellees are entitled to defend the dis-
trict court’s judgment on any grounds, and affirming the district court’s judgment on
the basis of OSH Act preemption would not expand the scope of the judgment. See
T.M. ex rel. A.M. v. Cornwall Cent. Sch. Dist., 752 F.3d 145, 167 n.9 (2d Cir. 2014).
31
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tional safety and health is an occupational safety and health standard within the
Federal law preempts Plaintiffs’ Section 200 claim because OSHA has prom-
against COVID-19. For example, Plaintiffs asked the district court to require Ama-
zon to provide them with “adequate time and tools to clean and disinfect their work
keep workplaces clean and to provide sufficient washing facilities, see 29 C.F.R.
§ 1910.141. OSHA has further emphasized that this and other standards apply to
employers’ COVID-19 workplace-safety measures. See DOL Br. 4; see also supra
at p. 25.
ees in states (such as New York) without a Secretary-approved plan. See Executive
Order § 3(ii). Moreover, the OSH Act’s “General Duty Clause” requires employers
to “furnish … a place of employment … free from recognized hazards that are caus-
ing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to [their] employees.” 29
32
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safety practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. See, e.g., OSHA Guidance,
Plaintiffs protest that the OSH Act’s savings clause preserves their Section
200 claims from preemption. Br. 26. The provision they cite, however, applies only
employees arising out of, or in the course of, employment.” 29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(4).
As noted above, see supra at p. 27, this provision applies to garden-variety tort suits
that seek recovery for “actual injury and death,” Atlas Roofing, 430 U.S. at 445, but
Plaintiffs have brought no such claim. Rather, in “actual effect,” Plaintiffs’ claim is
direct, clear and substantial way, regulation of worker health and safety.” Gade, 505
U.S. at 107–08 (majority opinion). Plaintiffs cannot deploy Section 200 to regulate
by injunction in an area governed by federal law or use state law as a back door to
carry out the requirements of the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause, the enforcement
of which is the sole prerogative of the Secretary of Labor. See Donovan v. OSHRC,
The district court “agree[d] [that] the plaintiffs’ claim under § 200 is in tension
with the OSH Act and creates the potential for duplicative, and possibly counterpro-
ductive, regulation of workplace safety.” JA-143. The court further recognized the
distinction between “[t]he vast majority of tort claims regarding workplace safety”—
33
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which “seek damages for ‘injuries, diseases, or death of employees arising out of or
in the course of, employment’ and thus easily fall within the OSH Act’s savings
Nevertheless, the district court declined to find OSH Act preemption in light
of the “presumption that state and local regulation of matters related to health and
safety are not preempted.” JA-144. But this presumption is merely an interpretive
tool for determining Congressional intent, which is the “ultimate touchstone” in the
preemption analysis. Envtl. Encapsulating Corp. v. City of New York, 855 F.2d 48,
53 (2d Cir. 1988). The Supreme Court has already determined that Congress’s intent
was to pre-empt “all ” state “‘occupational safety and health standards relating to any
occupational safety or health issue with respect to which a Federal standard has been
7
The district court also relied on People v. Pymm, 76 N.Y.2d 511, 524 (1990), JA-
144, but that case held only that general criminal laws are not “occupational safety
and health standards” because they protect all citizens by deterring and punishing
wrongful conduct instead of seeking to prevent workplace accidents. Id. at 521.
Plaintiffs, by contrast, seek to impose a prophylactic safety regime directed at em-
ployees, and Section 200 protects employees alone, not “members of the general
public.” Mordkofsky v. V.C.V. Dev. Corp., 76 N.Y.2d 573, 576–77 (1990).
34
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The “natural implication” of the OSH Act “is that state laws regulating the
same issue as federal laws are not saved, even if they merely supplement the federal
standard.” Gade, 505 U.S. at 100 (plurality). Here, Plaintiffs attempt to craft a
workplace-safety regime for JFK8, regulating workplace policies that OSHA already
governs through relevant standards and the General Duty Clause, thereby removing
law does not allow liability based on “[a] threat of future harm”; rather, physical
injury is necessary. Caronia v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., 22 N.Y.3d 439, 446 (2013).
the class of persons who actually possess a cause of action, provid[ing] a basis for
the factfinder to determine whether a litigant actually possesses a claim, and pro-
tect[ing] court dockets from being clogged with frivolous and unfounded claims.”
Id.
going forward based on their alleged future risk of exposure to COVID-19. But, as
the district court correctly concluded, under New York law, “the threat of future
harm does not provide a valid basis for a tort claim.” JA-147. Indeed, COVID-19
conditions in New York—and the practices that Amazon has adopted in response—
35
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have changed since this suit was filed, highlighting the difficulty of crafting a work-
place regime by court order. See Caronia, 22 N.Y.3d at 452 (cautioning against
The district court did not “read an unwritten element into § 200,” as Plaintiffs
contend. Br. 47–48. To the contrary, “[t]he requirement that a plaintiff sustain phys-
ical harm before being able to recover in tort is a fundamental principle of [New
York State’s] tort system.” Caronia, 22 N.Y.3d at 446. Section 200, as a codifica-
807 F.3d at 19. Risk of future harm does not satisfy that requirement. See Caronia,
22 N.Y.3d at 446.
Plaintiffs also assert (at 49–50) that Section 200 requires no current injury
allocating the burden of loss.” Waters v. N.Y.C. Hous. Auth., 69 N.Y.2d 225, 229
(1987); see also Irwin, 665 N.Y.S.2d at 778 (NYLL § 241(6)—which requires “rea-
nature, “[t]he vast majority of tort claims” under the statute seek damages for injury.
36
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ards into the statute does not transform it into a prophylactic law.
The cases Plaintiffs cite are not to the contrary. Russin v. Louis N. Picciano
& Son stands merely for the proposition that a party with “no ability to control either
plaintiff ” or the cause of the injury cannot be held liable; it says nothing about in-
junctive relief for risk of injury. 54 N.Y.2d 311, 317 (1981). Similarly irrelevant is
the fact that New York courts have described Section 200 as a “conduct-regulating”
statute for the purposes of a choice-of-law analysis. Huston v. Hayden Bldg. Maint.
Corp., 617 N.Y.S.2d 335, 337 (2d App. Div. 1994). Whether or not a statute is loss-
whether a plaintiff must plead present injury to state a Section 200 claim.
Equally unavailing is amicus New York’s argument that the State can obtain
(citing NYLL § 200(2)–(3)). As New York itself admits, “the statute does not ex-
pressly address the question whether workers themselves may obtain injunctive
relief,” and the State cites no precedent for its claim that injunctive relief is “availa-
ble” to prevent future risk of injury. Id. That is because any such precedent would
contravene the New York Court of Appeals’ admonition that risk of future injury is
37
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in any event is limited to unsafe conditions or machinery that the Labor Commis-
sioner identifies, NYLL § 200(2), (3)—does not extend to a suit like this one brought
by private plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs also assert that they have suffered previous harm and that the district
court “improperly divided” their claim into separate forward- and backward-looking
claims. Br. 39–41. But the fact that some Plaintiffs allege that they were injured in
the past is beside the point—any claim for historical injury is barred by the New
Equally infirm is Plaintiffs’ claim that, in similar negligence cases, New York
courts have issued injunctive relief to prevent future harm. Br. 47. The cases Plain-
tiffs cite involved requests for equitable relief to remedy past injury—not to
prospectively eliminate the risk of harm. See Incorporated Vill. of Garden City v.
Genesco, Inc., 2009 WL 3081724, at *7 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2009) (equitable relief
to remediate polluted water); Theofilatos v. Koleci, 481 N.Y.S.2d 782, 784 (3d App.
Div. 1984) (order that cost of new retaining wall be split between parties, where
Accordingly, Plaintiffs cannot state a claim under Section 200 for risk of fu-
ture injury.
38
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Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged a unique injury that would allow them to bring
a private action. Second, public-nuisance law does not govern the terms of employ-
Foods, Inc. v. Finlandia Ctr., Inc., 96 N.Y.2d 280, 292 (2001). “[I]nvasions of rights
common to all of the public should be left to be remedied by action by public offi-
cials.” Burns Jackson Miller Summit & Spitzer v. Lindner, 59 N.Y.2d 314, 334
(1983). The sole exception is where a plaintiff “suffered harm of a kind different
from that suffered by other members of the public.” Restatement (Second) of Torts
§ 821C(1). The injury must be “different in kind,” not “merely in degree, to that
which may be suffered by the public as a whole.” Duffy v. Baldwin, 124 N.Y.S.3d
110, 114 (3d App. Div. 2020). “When the injury claimed to be peculiar … becomes
so general and widespread as to affect a whole community, the injury is not peculiar
As the district court correctly held, this is not the rare case where a private
plaintiff may bring a public-nuisance action. JA-139–40. The pandemic has had a
39
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devastating impact on all New Yorkers, not just those who work at JFK8. JA-81–
82. Plaintiffs allege that they are at risk of “[i]ncreased community spread at JFK8,”
which, they say, will lead to “increased community spread” in New York City and
beyond. JA-117–18. This is precisely the sort of alleged community-wide harm that
New York law requires to be challenged, if at all, by the “proper governmental au-
thority,” not private litigants in potentially overlapping and conflicting cases. 532
facility.
Employee-Plaintiffs allege that their risk is greater because they are “directly
exposed” to COVID-19 at JFK8, and that they suffer unique fear of contracting or
passing on the virus. JA-118–19; Br. 34–36, 38. But everyone in New York who
goes to work, the grocery store, or anywhere else risks being “directly exposed” to
COVID-19. The physical, emotional, and financial harms visited on New York by
the virus are common to the entire community, not unique to Plaintiffs.
to nearby homeowners. Br. 34–35. The analogy cannot withstand scrutiny. “Unlike
the noxious landfill, a malarial pond, or a pigsty, JFK8 is not the source of COVID-
19, emitting the virus from a single source into an otherwise healthy world.” JA-
40
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139–40. Nobody can avoid the risk of exposure “simply by avoiding JFK8, its im-
mediate surrounding area, and its employees.” JA-140. The virus poses a direct risk
to everyone because it can travel to any public space, place of employment, or home,
no matter how far away. At most, the Employee-Plaintiffs allege that they are more
at risk than other New Yorkers. But that is a difference in degree, not kind, and
The Family-Member Plaintiffs are even harder to distinguish from the public
at large. They allege that they “are at risk inside their own homes,” JA-119, because
JFK8 employees might bring the virus back from work. That is the same kind of
risk that all New Yorkers face when a family member interacts with others in the
technician or other person visit their home. If there is any difference at all, it is again
Plaintiffs contend that they have suffered financial losses, including “lost
wages.” Br. 35–37. This argument fails at the gate because Plaintiffs never argued
below that they suffered a special injury based on lost wages. See JA-118–19; ECF
68, at 13–14. Further, Plaintiffs’ public-nuisance claim seeks only declaratory and
injunctive relief; Plaintiffs are not seeking to recover any purported financial loss
arising from their alleged risk of exposure to COVID-19. JA-72, 119–20. Plaintiffs
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therefore forfeited this argument. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Visa USA, Inc., 396
The argument also fails on its own terms. When “pecuniary damage is so
general and widespread as to affect a whole community, or a very wide area within
it,” a plaintiff may not use alleged economic loss to bypass the special-injury re-
quirement. 532 Madison Ave., 96 N.Y.2d at 293; see also Restatement (Second) of
Torts § 821C cmt. h (“If, however, the pecuniary loss is common to an entire com-
munity and the plaintiff suffers it only in a greater degree than others, it is not a
different kind of harm and the plaintiff cannot recover for the invasion of the public
right.”).
Here, Plaintiffs admit that “the New York economy has been hard-hit by the
pandemic,” JA-82, and that increased community spread at JFK8 specifically will
cause the public “financial harm,” JA-118. Plaintiffs’ asserted injury is, at most, a
difference in degree, not kind, from the injury they allege to the community at large.
Plaintiff Barbara Chandler argues that she suffered a unique injury when she
contracted COVID-19 at JFK8 and passed it on to her family members. Br. 36. This
argument, too, is forfeited because Plaintiffs failed to raise it below. See JA-118–
19; ECF 68, at 13–14; Wal-Mart, 396 F.3d at 124 n.29. Workers’ compensation
42
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“injury arising out of and in the course of employment, including diseases or infec-
tions which naturally and unavoidably result therefrom.” Acevedo v. Consol. Edison
Co. of New York, Inc., 596 N.Y.S.2d 68, 70–71 (1st App. Div. 1993); see infra at
pp. 47–54.
sick during a pandemic may bring a private action seeking to enjoin a public nui-
sance—fails on the merits. See NAACP v. AcuSport, Inc., 271 F. Supp. 2d 435, 451
(E.D.N.Y. 2003). The alleged harm to the community at large—the risk of virus
spread—is not different in kind from the harm of contracting the virus. Indeed,
Plaintiffs allege that “[i]ncreased community spread at JFK8” “will result in disease
and possibly death” throughout New York and therefore “interfere with the common
public right to public health.” JA-118. Again, the threat that the pandemic poses to
law to a claim against gun manufacturers that was brought by private plaintiffs who
had been shot. See Ileto v. Glock, Inc., 349 F.3d 1191, 1195, 1212 (9th Cir. 2003).
In Ileto, the alleged harm to the public was not the physical injury that would result
from being shot; rather, it was “danger, fear, inconvenience, and interference with
the use and enjoyment of public places that affect the tenor and quality of everyday
life.” Id. at 1212. Thus, the plaintiffs’ injuries were different in kind. Here, in
43
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contrast, the alleged public harm is “disease and possibly death,” JA-118—i.e., in-
fection with COVID-19—which is the same kind of harm that Chandler allegedly
suffered. JA-118. Moreover, in Ileto the plaintiffs had demonstrated that Glock’s
challenged practices actually caused their injuries. 349 F.3d at 1196–98, 1212–13.
Here, in contrast, Chandler has failed to allege facts demonstrating that she con-
tracted COVID-19 at JFK8, let alone that the specific employment policies at issue
in this lawsuit caused her to contract COVID-19. See supra at pp. 15–16.
cality that can be overcome through creative pleading and argument. But they ignore
the rule’s important purposes, which include ensuring that private plaintiffs cannot
usurp public authorities’ role in protecting the public at large and “the necessity of
guarding against the multiplicity of lawsuits that would follow if,” as here, “every-
one were permitted to seek redress for a wrong common to the public.” 532 Madison
(and all of their family members) to bring suit. Everyone else who comes into con-
tact with a JFK8 employee—say, on the bus or the ferry, JA-89—would also have
their own actions. And this could be repeated for every essential employer in New
York or anyone else who a plaintiff alleges is not doing enough to protect her from
44
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the pandemic. That would allow private litigants to dictate the government’s re-
sponse to the pandemic in a series of competing lawsuits, all under a claim that is
Plaintiffs’ claims fail for the additional reason that public-nuisance law does
acts that “interfer[e] with the use by the public of a public place or endanger[ ] or
532 Madison Ave., 96 N.Y.2d at 292. The conduct “must damage or infringe upon
the exercise of rights common to all people, such as interfering with the public’s
right to use a public place.” Haire v. Bonelli, 870 N.Y.S.2d 591, 595 (3d App. Div.
2008).
This Court should not expand New York’s public-nuisance law to govern
New York courts have cautioned against similarly novel and expansive pub-
lic-nuisance theories that would “open the courthouse doors to a flood of limitless,
similar theories” in cases brought “against a wide and varied array of … commercial
45
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and manufacturing enterprises and activities.” People ex rel. Spitzer v. Sturm, Ruger
& Co., 761 N.Y.S.2d 192, 196 (1st App. Div. 2003). It is especially inappropriate
for a federal court exercising diversity jurisdiction to “adopt innovative theories that
may distort established state law.” City of Johnstown v. Bankers Standard Ins. Co.,
Plaintiffs muster only a single case, from an Illinois trial court, supporting
their remarkable theory that public-nuisance law applies to the minute details of an
essential employer’s efforts to protect its employees during a pandemic. And even
that case involved allegations of unsafe practices at a fast-food restaurant that bear
Plaintiffs’ other cases are inapposite, either because they involved public-
health authorities (not private plaintiffs) seeking to shut down (or tear down) facili-
ties that were public nuisances under applicable law, St. Louis Cnty. v. House of Pain
Gym Services, 2020 WL 2615746, at *1 (E.D. Mo. May 22, 2020); Meeker v. Van
Rensselaer, 15 Wend. 397, 397–99 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1836), or because the conditions
for the spread of disease originated on the defendant’s property or were otherwise
under its control, Birke v. Oakwood Worldwide, 169 Cal. App. 4th 1540, 1548
(2009); Roth v. City of St. Joseph, 147 S.W. 490, 491 (Mo. Ct. App. 1912).
46
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business that is helping the public survive the pandemic. Instead, they seek to have
site should be air conditioned. But “the plain fact [is] that courts are the least suited,
least equipped, and thus the least appropriate branch of government to regulate and
micro-manage” the response to a pandemic. Sturm, Ruger & Co., 761 N.Y.S.2d at
199. None of the authorities cited by Plaintiffs justifies, let alone requires, federal
and public-nuisance law, New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law would inde-
obligation to pay workers’ compensation “shall be exclusive” and “in place of any
other liability whatsoever” for workplace injury. NYWCL § 11. By its plain terms,
47
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are premised on alleged workplace injury, because neither cause of action “pro-
First Albany Corp., 654 N.Y.2d 866, 869 (3d App. Div. 1997) (Section 200);
Acevedo, 596 N.Y.S.2d at 70–71 (a “private action for public nuisance” is subject to
broadly encompasses “any accidental injury arising out of and in the course of em-
seek injunctive relief rather than damages. But as the district court recognized, Sec-
tion 11’s plain text “protect[s] employers from suit,” JA-145–46 (emphasis added),
regardless of remedy sought. “It is difficult to imagine a broader phrase than ‘any
other liability whatsoever.’” JA-145. Section 11 thus bars any claim by an em-
ployee that seeks to make an employer “liable” for workplace injury. The term
“liability” encompasses claims for injunctive relief because, when Section 11 was
enacted in 1914, the term “liable” meant to be bound in law “or equity.” Black’s
Law Dictionary (2d ed. 1910); see also Black’s Law Dictionary (4th ed. 1951) (“li-
ability” is a “broad legal term” that is “of the most comprehensive significance”).
Accordingly, the New York Court of Appeals explained that the statute “co-
vers the entire field of remedy against an employer for industrial accident.” In re
Babb, 264 N.Y. 357, 361 (1934). “[L]iability,” as this Court has observed, is “quite
48
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differentiated from a mere duty to pay damages”; instead, it is the “opposite of im-
munity.” Krenger v. Pa. R. Co., 174 F.2d 556, 559 (2d Cir. 1949). Workers’
compensation exclusivity thus means that “no suit against an employer may be main-
tained” for workplace injury. Burlew v. Am. Mut. Ins. Co., 63 N.Y.2d 412, 416
(1984). Section 11 bars the entire “cause of action” for public nuisance when based
in” the NYWCL. JA-145. The statute was a “quid pro quo,” WMATA v. Johnson,
467 U.S. 925, 931 (1984), in which “both classes, employer and employee, gained
benefits and made concessions,” Shanahan v. Monarch Eng’g Co., 219 N.Y. 469,
478 (1916). Section 10 grants workers guaranteed compensation for workplace in-
William Vogel & Bros., 231 N.Y. 317, 321 (1921); see also JA-145 (part of employ-
ers’ benefit of the bargain was “reducing the costs and risks of litigation”).
“In exchange for the ‘security’ of receiving fixed benefits,” the district court
explained, “‘the employee has been asked to pay a price in the form of the loss of
his common-law right to sue his employer in tort.’” JA-145–46. “Allowing plain-
tiffs to avoid preemption by seeking only injunctive relief ” would “thwart the
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The statutory history further confirms this reading. The state constitutional
pensation would be “exclusive of all other rights and remedies for injuries to
employees.” Shanahan, 219 N.Y. at 474. Accordingly, when enacted in 1914, Sec-
tion 11 provided that Section 10 liability “shall be exclusive.” Id. at 474. Then, in
1916 New York added the phrase “and in place of any other liability whatsoever.”
Laws of New York, 1916 vol. I 2035. This broad language—added to a statute that
tion” of the term “liability.” Greenberg v. Sutter, 661 N.Y.S.2d 933, 934 (Sup. Ct.
1997).
Finally, statutory structure supports the district court’s reading. Section 10—
the section immediately preceding Section 11—repeatedly uses the narrower term
“compensation.” The legislature could have continued using that word in Section
phrase,” JA-145, but it did not. The switch to the broader terms “remedy” and “lia-
bility” indicates that the Assembly used those terms “intentionally.” DHS v.
seek injunctive relief rather than damages. First, Plaintiffs insist that the phrase
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“qualif[ies]” the plain meaning of “liability.” Br. 43–44. In fact, that phrase simply
modifies the list of persons who are subject to the statutory bar: injured employees,
their representatives and relatives, and “any person otherwise entitled to recover
says nothing about the sorts of claims those persons are barred from bringing.
See Br. 44. That canon applies only “where general words are accompanied by a
specific enumeration of persons or things,” and provides that “the general words
of New York v. Beretta USA Corp., 534 F.3d 384, 401 (2d Cir. 2004). Here, the
Section 11 term “liability” does not belong to a list at all, much less a list of specific
kinds of liability that could narrow the meaning of the all-encompassing phrase “any
Plaintiffs protest that the district court’s interpretation would make it “impos-
sible for a court to prospectively correct unsafe workplace practices.” Br. 41. But
Section 11 does not preclude judicial relief for unsafe workplaces; it simply prevents
employees (and those standing in their shoes) from suing for workplace injury.
OSHA may pursue enforcement actions for workplace-safety violations, and em-
ployees may petition OSHA if they think an unsafe workplace exists. As for
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employees’ inability to sue, that is simply the “price” employees paid in exchange
for “[f]ixed compensation [that] is guaranteed.” JA-145. Indeed, while the NYWCL
was being debated, a New York Labor Commissioner remarked that “a principal
Next, Plaintiffs argue that Section 11 does not apply because “the Workers’
Compensation Board has no power to issue injunctions.” Br. 41–42. But the “ex-
clusive reach of § 11” is “not dependent” on whether the Board can provide the relief
that plaintiff seeks. Acevedo, 596 N.Y.S.2d at 71. Likewise, it does not matter
whether Plaintiffs seek “compensation for … disability or death from injury.” Br.
43 (quoting NYWCL § 10). Section 10 details what employees receive in the work-
sue their employers. A bargain’s quid need not mirror its quo.
eries” and “large damages verdicts.” Br. 42–43. But that is not the statute’s sole
purpose. As explained above, the legislature’s broader goal was to relieve employers
from the burden of litigating suits involving workplace injury. See Weiner v. City of
New York, 19 N.Y.3d 852, 854 (2012) (Section 11 “precludes suits against an em-
ployer for injuries in the course of employment”). In any event, it is “the provisions
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of our laws rather than the principal concerns of our legislators by which we are
governed.” Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs. Inc., 523 U.S. 75, 79 (1998). Sec-
tion 11’s text refers to “all other liability whatsoever,” not merely damages suits.
The cases Plaintiffs rely on (at 44–45) are inapposite. Several concerned
causes of action that, unlike here, are exempted from workers’ compensation exclu-
sivity. See Hanford v. Plaza Packaging Corp., 727 N.Y.S.2d 407, 408 (1st App.
Div. 2001) (“intentional” misconduct); Kondracke v. Blue, 716 N.Y.S.2d 533, 536
(4th App. Div. 2000) (human-rights law); Conroy v. Inc. Vill. of Freeport, 984
N.Y.S.2d 819, 823 (Sup. Ct. 2014) (“the Labor Law statute excepts the acts alleged
The other cases are from out of state and do not apply the NYWCL, which
has its own unique text and statutory history. See Shimp v. N.J. Bell Tel. Co., 145
N.J. Super. 516, 524 (Ch. Div. 1976) (provision barred employee from any other
Transp. Auth., 132 Cal. Rptr. 2d 207, 213–14 (2003) (provision barred actions “at
law for damages”). And they are devoid of persuasive reasoning. See Conway v.
Circus Circus Casinos, Inc., 8 P.3d 837 (Nev. 2000) (no reasoning); Nelson v. USPS,
189 F. Supp. 2d 450, 460 (W.D. Va. 2002) (failing to consider statutory text); Hicks
v. Allegheny E. Conf. Ass’n of Seventh-Day Adventists, Inc., 712 A.2d 1021, 1021–
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IV. The Court Should Affirm The District Court’s Dismissal Of Employee-
Plaintiffs’ Section 191 Claims.
The Court should also affirm the district court’s dismissal of Employee-Plain-
tiffs’ claims under NYLL § 191 for allegedly untimely paid quarantine-leave
benefits under New York’s COVID-19 Leave Law. 8 Plaintiffs’ claims fail for four
independent reasons.
therefore have waived their argument that paid quarantine leave constitutes “wages”
rather than “benefits.” Second, as the district court correctly determined, Section
191 governs the timing for payment of wages, not benefits such as quarantine leave.
Third, Section 191 applies only to contracted-for wages, not wages required by a
statute such as the Leave Law. Fourth, Plaintiffs are not entitled to seek relief under
the Leave Law because, as they concede, they never received the required quarantine
8
Plaintiffs do not challenge the district court’s dismissal of their Section 191 claims
concerning hazard pay. See ECF 68, at 21–22. Thus, that challenge is waived. See
Pettaway v. Nat’l Recovery Sols., LLC, 955 F.3d 299, 305 n.2 (2d Cir. 2020).
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efits” is waived. Below, Plaintiffs conceded that Leave Law payments are
“benefits,” JA-85, 96, 102, contending (contrary to the statutory text) that they still
qualified as “wages” for purposes of Section 191 because that statutory term “‘in-
cludes benefits or wage supplements’ as defined in § 198-c,” ECF 68, at 20. But
now Plaintiffs take the opposite position, arguing that Leave Law payments are
“wages plain and simple.” Br. 53–54. “[W]here a party has shifted his position on
appeal and advances arguments available but not pressed below, waiver will bar
raising the issue on appeal.” Wal-Mart, 396 F.3d at 124 n.29. Plaintiffs have thus
waived the argument that quarantine pay is not a “benefit” akin to sick leave.
untimely paid COVID-19 benefits under Section 191, but that statute unambiguously
does not apply to benefits. See Cavalotti v. Daddyo’s BBQ, Inc., 2018 WL 5456654,
at *15 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2018) (“‘[W]ages’ for purposes of NYLL § 191 specifi-
cally excludes benefits and wage supplements.”). Specifically, Section 191 sets out
timing requirements for the payment of “wages.” NYLL § 191. The term “wages”
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the purposes of section[ ] [191].” Id. § 190 (emphasis added). Thus, for purposes of
“reimbursement for expenses; health, welfare and retirement benefits; and vacation,
separation or holiday pay.” Thus, Section 191 does not apply to benefits such as
May 4, 2015); see also Sosnowy v. A. Perri Farms, Inc., 764 F. Supp. 2d 457, 476
(E.D.N.Y. 2011) (holding that “sick day payments” are “benefits [or] wage supple-
Section 191 therefore does not apply to the COVID-19 Leave Law, S. 8091
(N.Y. 2020), which requires employers to pay sick-leave benefits to employees that
are quarantined due to COVID-19. Here, as the district court correctly recognized,
“COVID-19 leave is a form of paid sick leave,” and is thus a “benefit” not governed
by Section 191. JA-148. Indeed, the plain text of the COVID-19 Leave Law makes
clear that it “provid[es] requirements for sick leave and the provision of certain em-
added). The State of New York agrees that the Leave Law provided for quarantine
“benefits.” N.Y. Br. 24. Section 191 therefore does not apply here.
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(“FAQs”) page on a New York State website, which asserts without explanation that
“[t]he paid sick leave payments are subject to” Section 191’s requirements. New
(JA-150) of Section 191 demonstrates that it does not apply to sick-leave benefits
meaning of the statutory language,” New York courts “typically decline[ ] to enforce
Moreover, the FAQ is not entitled to deference because it conflicts with past
NYDOL guidance. As the district court noted, the NYDOL has consistently held
that paid sick leave is a “benefit[ ]” and that there is “‘no ‘correct’ or prescribed
In any event, amicus New York has now rejected Plaintiffs’ interpretation of
the FAQ, confirming that the Leave Law is not subject to Section 191. N.Y. Br. 24.
New York says that the FAQ is not guidance regarding Section 191; rather, New
York argues, the FAQ merely references Section 191 as “a shorthand to explain that
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the new quarantine leave payments should be made on the same schedule and in the
same manner as wages subject to Labor Law § 191.” Id. The FAQ is thus irrelevant
to the question “whether the new leave law payments are ‘wages’ for purposes of
Labor Law § 191,” and irrelevant to the resolution of Plaintiffs’ Section 191 claims.
Id. 9
Plaintiffs next argue that applying Section 191 as written will “undermine the
Leave Law.” Br. 52. To the contrary, the district court’s decision respects the stat-
ute’s plain text. The Assembly “passed the COVID-19 leave law presumably well
aware that sick leave is not covered by a private right of action under § 191,” leaving
have included a private right of action in the Leave Law or provided that Section
Moreover, the district court’s opinion is entirely consistent with the purposes
of Section 191 and the Leave Law: “The time for providing a benefit or wage sup-
plement can vary greatly depending on the nature of the promised benefit or wage
9
New York’s interpretation of its FAQ is consistent with its plain terms as well.
The FAQs simply tell underpaid employees to “file a complaint with the” NYDOL.
New York Paid Family Leave COVID-19: FAQs, https://on.ny.gov/2VCCDQD. No-
where do they purport to allow employees to bypass these procedures and bring a
private action to enforce the Leave Law, let alone an action under Section 191 that
would be inconsistent with the plain language of the statute.
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promised benefits and wage supplements within section 191’s strict wage payment
intervals.” Scott A. Lucas, Labor Law Article 6: A Misunderstood Law That Fully
Protects All Employees’ Wages, 80 Alb. L. Rev. 1355, 1372 n.140 (2017). This is
especially true of benefits that, as here, require verification by the employer, which
might be impossible before the next pay period. See S. 8091 (N.Y. 2020) (requiring
tion issued by the state of New York, the department of health, local board of health,
or any governmental entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19”).
Plaintiffs’ claims fail for the additional reason that Section 191 applies only
to contractually obligated payments, not to payments that a statute (such as the Leave
Law) requires. Thus, a plaintiff cannot bring a Section 191 claim at all absent an
“enforceable contractual right to” unpaid wages. Tierney v. Capricorn Inv’rs, LP,
592 N.Y.S.2d 700, 703 (1st App. Div. 1993); see also Simas v. Merrill Corp., 2004
to wages necessarily precludes a statutory claim under New York’s labor law.”);
Gallegos v. Brandeis Sch., 189 F.R.D. 256, 258 (E.D.N.Y. 1999) (plaintiffs cannot
bring a claim under Section 191 unless they have “an enforceable contractual right
to those wages”); Myers v. Hertz Corp., 624 F.3d 537, 545 n.1 (2d Cir. 2010). Thus,
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Plaintiffs’ argument (at 52–54) that “benefits” under Section 191 do not include stat-
because Section 191 does not govern statutorily obligated payments in any event.
The Court can also affirm the district court’s judgment because Plaintiffs
Law requires. S. 8091 (N.Y. 2020); see ECF 68, at 19 n.10 (conceding the point by
arguing that Plaintiffs “would” qualify for such an order). Thus, even setting aside
all of the other legal flaws in Plaintiffs’ attempt to seek quarantine-leave benefits
under the Leave Law in a Section 191 action, they would still fail to state a claim
that they were entitled to quarantine leave under the plain terms of the Leave Law
itself.
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CONCLUSION
This Court should affirm the district court’s judgment.
Avi Weitzman
Zainab N. Ahmad
GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP
200 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10166
(212) 351-4000
[email protected]
[email protected]
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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
I certify that:
32(e), because, excluding the parts of the brief exempted by Federal Rule of Appel-
Appellate Procedure 32(a)(5) and the type-style requirements of Federal Rule of Ap-