U.S. District Court
Where a plaintiff who retired from the North Providence Police Department has filed a complaint alleging that the defendant town violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by willfully failing to timely pay his accrued compensatory time, that complaint should not be dismissed despite the town’s argument that the plaintiff engaged in impermissible claim-splitting.
“[Plaintiff Michael A.] Gawel filed a lawsuit in Rhode Island state court, asserting a similar claim but under Rhode Island labor law. … For reasons unknown, eight months later he then commenced this federal lawsuit. … The Town moves to dismiss the Amended Complaint. …
“The Town argues that the Court should dismiss Mr. Gawel’s lawsuit because he engaged in impermissible claim-splitting. … The Town adduces he violated this doctrine because he filed a FLSA claim with this Court while litigating a similar R.I. Gen Laws §28-14-4 claim in state court. … The Town cites caselaw and argues that Mr. Gawel’s claim in this lawsuit is related enough to the state court lawsuit, to bar him from proceeding this way. … But for reasons stated below, the Town’s claim-splitting analysis of the facts in this case do not fit within that doctrine. …
“For Mr. Gawel’s federal lawsuit to be barred by the claim-splitting doctrine, the lawsuit must have a substantially related claim to a simultaneous suit, and it must be before a federal court. But here lies the problem with applying this doctrine to the current facts — Mr....
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