A lawsuit has been filed against two janitorial contracting companies and two supermarket chains on claims of systemic wage theft of vulnerable workers, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office announced Thursday.
City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto filed the complaint Monday in an effort to stop alleged wage theft and other labor violations against janitors -- including failure to pay the required minimum wage and overtime, failure to provide meal breaks and paid sick leave, and other illegal labor practices. Through this lawsuit, Feldstein Soto aims for the court to impose statutory penalties and provide damages and restitution for at least 65 victimized workers.
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"This case is about janitorial contractors and grocery corporations exploiting janitors and stealing their hard-earned money in a number of different ways, which is not only unethical, it's illegal," Feldstein Soto said in a statement. "Every janitor and every worker deserves dignity, respect and most of all, the wages they've worked hard to earn and the benefits they're entitled to under state, county and city laws."
According to the complaint filed with the Superior Court of California, wage theft is rampant in janitorial contracting, an arrangement in which a contractor hires and employs janitorial workers and enters into agreements with property owners or tenants to provide janitorial services.
The City Attorney filed the complaint against Janitorial Modern Floor Specialists and Clean Solution Experts as well as supermarket clients, owned by Chedraui USA, which operates El Super and Super Center Concepts, operating Superior Grocers.
The janitorial defendants provided services to about 75 El Super and Superior stores, primarily in the county of L.A., according to the City Attorney's office.
Chedraui USA and Super Center Concepts did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding the lawsuit.
Under the state labor code, supermarkets share civil liability for the unpaid wages owed to janitorial companies' employees and all damages and penalties owed due to failure to pay wages.
The complaint alleges that the contracts were insufficient to cover the cost of minimum and overtime wages, paid sick leave, payroll taxes and compliant workers' compensation insurance for all employees used to clean all the stores.
Feldstein Soto's complaint alleges that the defendants took advantage of these workers and committed these violations because they knew that the janitorial staff, in this case, were vulnerable workers. Some of them are immigrants, economically distressed, and non-English speakers, which meant they were unlikely to complain about their workplace treatment, according to the complaint.
The Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, a statewide organization that works to eliminate illegal and unfair business practices in California's janitorial industry, worked with Feldstein Soto's team in this matter.
"It's hard working janitors - often women and mothers providing for their families - who directly experience the highly stressful effects of wage theft," Yardenna Aaron, executive director of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, said in a statement. "Every time lawbreaking contracting companies commit wage theft, deny proper rest breaks or force employees to sign releases and jump through administrative hoops just to get paid what they are owed, this hurts workers' financial freedom and undercuts responsible contractors in the industry."
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