The cleaning staff at WinCo supermarkets filed a class action lawsuit in Los Angeles, accusing the company and its subcontractor Tec Services of classifying them as independent contractors instead of employees.
The lawsuit comes after a year-long investigation by the watchdog group Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, which uncovered illegal treatment of janitors.
On Wednesday, janitors and members of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund protested outside a Long Beach store.
“We believe there are likely over 100 janitors who were misclassified, not paid minimum wage or overtime, not given sick leave, not provided meal or rest breaks, not reimbursed for necessary expenses like when they used their cell phones to communicate with managers, and not given accurate itemized wage statements showing how they were paid,” Attorney Caitlin Gray said.
Grey is with Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, which filed the lawsuit. She said that when workers are categorized as independent contractors, “they no longer have the rights and protections that California law affords to employees.”
KNX News has reached out to WinCo and Tec Services for their response.
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