Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff
The State Attorney sued a Los Angeles car wash for $2.6 million on Dec. 15, for illegally forcing employees to work nearly 60-hour weeks without overtime, ignoring minimum wage laws and denying injured employees workers’ compensation benefi ts. State Attorney Edmund G. Brown’s legal action was part of his statewide crackdown on companies that break worker-protection laws.
Brown’s lawsuit was fi led in Los Angeles Superior Court today against Auto Spa Express, Inc. and its owner, Jonathan Min Kim, and Sunset Car Wash, LLC.
The violations occurred at Auto Spa Express car wash facility located at 2028 Sunset Blvd., which employed between 23 and 41 people, depending on the time of year. The facility was sold to Sunset Car Wash, LLC earlier this year.
The suit contends that from 2006 to 2008, the company failed to:
– Pay the state minimum wage to its employees. Employees were often paid $6.32 an hour; the state’s minimum wage is $8.00 an hour. On days when there were no customers, employees sometimes wouldnot be paid at all.
– Pay overtime. Employees were often forced to work six days a week, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., without overtime pay.
– Provide accurate itemized statements of hours and wages to employees. Employees were often paid in cash so that the company would not have to pay into the State Unemployment Fund or withhold pay for state taxes.
– Provide safe working conditions or report industrial injuries suffered by employees.
According an statement from the Attorney General’s office, after receiving numerous complaints from Auto Express Spa employees, the Underground Economy Unit of the Attorney General’s Office conducted an investigation into Auto Spa Express’ practices and uncovered the violations.
Brown seeks to recover $630,000 in unpaid wages for the company’s workers and to assess $2 million in penalties for violating California’s Unfair Business Act.
The Attorney General is also seeking an injunction to prevent the defendants from committing similar violations in the future.
Legal momentum applauds critical First step for immigration reform
New York – Legal Momentum applauds the introduction of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D.-Ill.), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus task force on immigration.
Irasema Garza, president of Legal Momentum, the women’s legal defense and education fund, says, “CIR ASAP represents a vital first step to improving the safety and health of America’s immigrant women and families.”
In order to fully address the unique needs of immigrant women, Legal Momentum believes that a path to legalization must recognize the non-traditional work which overwhelmingly employs immigrant women, promote family reunification in such a way that women are not dependent on spouses for years without access to lawful status and work authorization, and reform the enforcement and detention system particularly for vulnerable populations.
Garza continues, “For too long, women immigrants have been invisible.
Meanwhile, they contend with the highest levels of workplace exploitation and domestic violence in the nation. Comprehensive Immigration Reform offers a vital opportunity to fix a broke immigration system that disproportionately hurts women.”
It is critical that immigration reform legislation take into account immigrant women’s experiences and promote solutions to overcome the obstacles to economic access and justice confronting immigrant women and families. Legal Momentum looks forward to working with Rep. Gutierrez and other members of Congress who support this aim.
