UPDATE: This story was updated on Feb. 20 with details from the defendant’s formal answer to the charges, including counterclaims.
A Yorktown Heights dog walking and pet sitting business claims that a former employee has been poaching pets.
Canines, Cats and Critters accused Ariel Brofman, of Sandy Hook, Connecticut, of breach of contract, unfair competition and unjust enrichment, in a complaint originally filed in Westchester Supreme Court and moved on Jan. 5 to U.S. District Court, White Plains.
“Pursuant to the faithless servant doctrine,” the complaint states, “CCC in entitled to recover from Brofman all monies paid to her during her period of disloyalty.”
CCC hired Brofman as an independent contractor in 2019 and reclassified her as an employee in 2023. Her employment agreement included a non-solicitation compact.
CCC would put Brofman in contact with clients. She could run her own pet sitting and dog walking business but she could not solicit CCC’s current or former clients during her employment and for two years afterward. Any pictures taken of CCC clients or of herself performing services for CCC could not be used to promote her own business.
The non-solicitation deal included penalties ranging from $200 to $2,500 per violation, the complaint states.
Last August, Brofman registered Paws in Paradise LLC, in Sandy Hook, according to a Connecticut business record.
Last October, according to the lawsuit, Brofman resigned from CCC. She allegedly told CCC owner Cora Mitchell that she needed time off for surgery. Eventually, the complaint states, she revealed that she intended to provide dog walking and pet sitting services closer to her home, but she assured Mitchell that she would not solicit CCC clients.
But CCC claims that even before Brofman resigned she had solicited at least 30 CCC clients; kept payments from CCC clients she had served without notifying CCC of the services; and used images of pets of  CCC clients to promote her own business.
When Mitchell and a colleague confronted Brofman about breaches of the employment deal, she denied the alleged wrongdoing and abruptly terminated the meeting, the complaint states.
CCC is seeking at least $75,000 in monetary damages.
Brofman generally denied the allegations in her lawyer’s formal answer to the complaint. She says she was required to work up to seven days a week: 14 hours a day on weekdays and seven to nine hours a day on weekends when she boarded dogs at home.
She was paid a fixed rate for each customer that was initially set at $10 per dog walk and $50 per pet sitting, regardless of how many hours she worked.
Brofman was misclassified as an independent contractor in a scheme to avoid paying her full wages, according to the counterclaims. CCC also failed to issue IRS W-2 forms for 2019 to 2023. And it failed to file quarterly federal and state tax returns or to obtain workers’ compensation insurance, from the time she was hired until at least November 2023.
Mitchell was often absent from the office and unreachable, and “disappeared” for weeks at a time for unannounced vacations, according to the counterclaims. During those periods, Brofman had to “pick up the slack,” fielding customer complaints, handling pet emergencies, and covering administrative duties.
Brofman accused CCC of violating federal and state labor laws, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. She is asking the court to dismiss CCC’s complaint, pay overtime wages and penalties, and pay other monetary damages for willful disregard of obligations.
