California Labor Commissioner Secures $450,000 in Unpaid Wages for Carwash Workers.LOS ANGELES Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. -- Sixty workers at a Redondo Beach Redondo Beach (rĭdŏn`dō), city (1990 pop. 60,167), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1892. Once a commercial port for Los Angeles, it is a residential and resort city with a protected harbor and an excellent marina. carwash will receive $450,000 in unpaid wages, thanks to a settlement reached in a lawsuit against the carwash by the California Labor Commissioner on the workers' behalf. The Bruno Scherrer Corporation dba Hollywood Riviera shorted their employees' earned wages and intentionally failed to record employee total work hours. This deceptive practice resulted in payment of sub-minimum wage to the carwash employees. "Employees must be fully paid for all hours that they work," said Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet. "Businesses are required by law to keep accurate records showing when the employee begins and ends each work shift and properly compensate for those hours." An investigation was launched by the Labor Commissioner's office in October 2006. The investigation revealed that Hollywood Riviera carwash had been paying employees minimum wage for as little as 3 to 4 hours of work then requiring them to finish out the day by being paid tips only. This resulted in significant violations of minimum wage laws. In September 2007 the Labor Commissioner filed a lawsuit against Hollywood Riviera in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of the sixty workers. "Clearly this case reveals a deplorable de·plor·a·ble adj. 1. Worthy of severe condemnation or reproach: a deplorable act of violence. 2. situation where employees were being taken advantage of by not being paid their proper wage," said Bradstreet. "This case is an excellent example of why we register carwash companies in California." In 2003, the California legislature passed AB 1688 establishing a registration system for all carwash and polishing businesses. Known also as the Carwash Worker Law under Labor Code Sections 2050-2067, the law protects the well being of employees in the car washing and polishing industry. Illegal cash pay, child labor child labor, use of the young as workers in factories, farms, and mines. Child labor was first recognized as a social problem with the introduction of the factory system in late 18th-century Great Britain. violations and failure to provide workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. to their employees are some of the common violations found in the carwash industry according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Bradstreet. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement adjudicates wage claims, investigates discrimination and public works public works pl.n. Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public. Noun 1. complaints, and enforces state labor law labor law, legislation dealing with human beings in their capacity as workers or wage earners. The Industrial Revolution, by introducing the machine and factory production, greatly expanded the class of workers dependent on wages as their source of income. and Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders. To learn more about the functions of the California Labor Commissioner, visit our web site at www.dir.ca.gov/dlse. Employees that have work-related questions or complaints can call the California Workers' Information Hotline at 1-866-924-9757. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion