Local Law Firms Home > Workers' Compensation News > Tower Car Wash Settles Workers' Compensation Claim Tower Car Wash, a San Francisco, CA-based car wash company, has agreed to a workers' compensation settlement with the city. Back in August 2011, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and La Raza Centro Legal, an immigrant legal support group, had teamed up to file suit against Tower Car Wash, seeking $3 million in unpaid wages, interest and penalties. This was the single largest wage theft claim the city has undertaken to recover on behalf of employees since San Francisco's minimum wage laws went into effect in 2004. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco Superior Court and alleged that Tower Car Wash was in violation of state laws and local wage ordinances for making employees come and wait for hours before they were allowed to clock in. The company made employees wait in a small and windowless room until there were enough customers, and only then allowed them to clock in. Each worker was made to wait 4-6 hours per week like this without pay, and they were threatened that they would be fired if they did not report before hours to wait in the room. Sometimes they were even sent back home without any pay if enough customers did not come in to the car wash. During these unpaid wait periods, many of the employees had to pay for childcare for their children. The lawsuit settlement amount will be distributed among about 100 current and former employees. In addition to the $500,000 in compensation for workers, Tower Car Wash also agreed to pay another $70,000 to the city for its legal expenses and investigation costs. Herrera did praise Tower Car Wash for realizing they had made a mistake, cooperating with the city for the investigation and calculation of the exact amounts of unpaid wages, and then agreeing to pay the required compensation.
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