The former dockmaster of Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club, who claims he was more of a “blue collar” manual laborer than his title suggested, is demanding overtime pay for his services.
Howard J. Hamlett was paid $82,400 a year, according to a complaint filed May 27 in U.S. District Court, White Plains. He did not put a number on how much he thinks he is owed, but based on his claim of working an extra 30 hours a week for half a year, overtime would total more than $46,000 and bring his annual pay to nearly $129,000.
Hamlett, of White Plains, said he worked long hours “to ensure that the members could always enjoy the ”˜paradise,”™ ”˜service”™ and ”˜tranquility”™ they expected” ”“ referring to the club”™s promotional claims ”“ but “his services, however, were not properly rewarded.”
The lawsuit names Taylor Point Associates Inc. of New Rochelle, as co-owner of the club, and Lisa Rosenshein, as CEO of Taylor Point and former president of the club.
A woman who answered the phone at MBYC said Rosenshein “is no longer here” and is no longer an owner. She declined to say who owns the club or who is in charge.
MBYC traces is history to 1885, when Gilded Age finance baron Charles Osborn commissioned prominent architectural Stanford White to build a grand home on the Long Island Sound. The property was later converted to a yacht club, with the 18,000-square-foot Osborn Castle as the clubhouse.
The 12-acre property has a 57-slip marina, tennis courts, swimming pool, beach and gardens.
“We are creating a world where relaxed elegance meets new world luxury lifestyle,” the club”™s website states. “A place where tranquility begins from the moment you arrive.”
Hamlett said he worked at the club from 2006 to January 2019, when he was fired.
He worked 40-hour weeks from October to March, according to the lawsuit, for $1,585 weekly. His off-season duties included maintaining the docks and taking boats out of the water, cleaning them and putting them in storage.
During the “summer season,” April through September, he emptied garbage, made sure ice was always available for members, greeted members at their cars, brought their belongings onto their boats, guided members to and from the docks, offloaded boats when they returned and responded to emergencies.
He often worked seven days a week and averaged 70 hours a week, the complaint states, but was paid the same $1,585 per week.
Hamlett claims that MBYC misclassified him as an exempt employee, under federal and state labor laws, never gave him a pay rate notice and did not keep time records.
He is demanding unspecified overtime wages.
He is represented by White Plains attorney Howard Schragin.
MBYC was listed for sale in 2018 for $10 million, according to news accounts, and was bought by an unidentified buyer. Town of Rye tax roll lists the owner as Mamaroneck Beach Realty Group.
The owner of Mamaroneck Beach Realty Group is in dispute. Either Joseph T. Rotonde of Old Tappan, New Jersey, or Gerald J. Shallo of Armonk, manage the company, according to a pending lawsuit in Westchester Supreme Court.
