SANTA ANA, CA — A carwash company here is being sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for allegedly failing to properly pay 81 employees for the hours they worked, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Aug. 14 story stated that the suit was filed against Z&H Happy Hands Corp, and it claims the business changed electronic time clock data to register fewer hours. The lawsuit said the company paid workers less than half the federal minimum wage and employees were not paid all the overtime they were due.
The newspaper reached out to Happy Hand’s owners Zohrab Kalaydjian and Hovsep Kalaydjian for comment, but the call was not returned.
This newest lawsuit comes as authorities have tried to clean up practices in carwashes that exploit workers. As PC&D previously reported, the carwash unionization push in California has led to a few carwashes signing union agreements as well as multiple labor lawsuits.
