Non-Compliant California Car Wash Facilities the Focus of Labor Code Crackdown

San Francisco, CAThe California labor code has a fierce ally in Angela Bradstreet, the State Labor Commissioner. Bradstreet oversees California state labor laws and leaves no stone unturned in her quest to protect the rights of California workers.

The California car wash industry is back in the headlines after Bradstreet and her team completed a two-day statewide enforcement sweep late last month. A total of $916,711 in fines were issued, including $600,900 to 76 unlicensed car wash businesses that were cited for not even having a valid registration.

According to a recent issue of Business Wire, the two-day blitz commenced October 28. By the end, 42 investigators had visited a total of 230 car wash facilities. Slightly under half of the facilities—103 to be exact—were issued a combined 141 citations.

Of those, 49 businesses were in breach of the requirement to provide workers' compensation coverage for their employees, a violation of California labor employment law. In 12 of the cases the employer did not provide its employees with a wage deduction statement—in one case there was improper payment of minimum wage, and in another case, improper payment of overtime. Two businesses were found to have hired minors without having the required work permits on file.

Speaking to the registration requirement, Labor Commissioner Bradstreet said that "requiring car wash businesses to register with the state allows us to focus on those businesses that undercut their competition, which makes it difficult for legitimate car wash businesses to stay in operation.

"As part of the underground economy, these illegal businesses often do not pay state taxes and take advantage of employees by not providing workers' compensation coverage or paying proper wages."

The Labor Commissioner added that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed AB 236, a law that effectively extends the existing law through 2014 in an effort to extend protections to "those workers in the car wash industry and to provide businesses the opportunity to come into compliance with labor laws," added Bradstreet. "This registration allows us to better monitor situations where we have traditionally seen labor violations."