Torrance Car Wash Ordered To Pay Back $800K In Workers' Stolen Wages

TORRANCE, CA — The State of California Labor Commissioner’s Office announced Wednesday that it has cited and fined the owners of Torrance Car Wash more than $800,000 for labor code violations.

An investigation by the State of California Labor Commissioner’s Office found that for years, owners at the popular car wash in Torrance had illegally short-changed their workers. Owners denied rest breaks, shorted workers on overtime and ordered them to show up with no pay on gray days.

Through conversations with the workers, CLEAN Carwash Worker Center discovered that Torrance Car Wash managers and owners were committing high levels of wage theft. CLEAN Carwash Worker Center is the U.S.'s first carwash worker center and advocates for carwashers, and one of Los Angeles’ most exploitative industries — hand wash car washes.

The Labor Commissioner’s Office has cited the business, along with corporate officers Reza Albolahrar and Susan Amini and manager Jesus Hernandez, for unpaid wages and penalties. The unpaid wages span from March 2018 to March 2021 and cover 35 workers.

“I have been working in car washes in Southern California for many years and the types of violations these workers in Torrance experienced are unfortunately very common,” said Maria Mendez, who is not associated with Torrance Car Wash, in a statement.

“Speaking up as these workers did is the key to transforming the industry so that it respects our labor,” Mendez said.

In 2018, several workers raised concerns over being paid less than state minimum wage and working more than 40 hours without overtime pay. Workers were not provided rest breaks and they documented reporting time violations, including getting called into work only to be told to wait without pay for several hours.

“Violations in the car wash industry are all too common and retaliation is often severe when workers do speak up,” said Flor Rodriguez, executive director of CLEAN.

“The bravery and leadership of the workers at the Torrance Car Wash will lead to more workers coming out of the shadows to win back money they are owed and stopping wage theft altogether," Rodriguez said. "These citations from the state send a powerful message to car wash owners everywhere that they need to respect workers. This message is also for workers, it is important that you understand that you are your best advocate. If you need support, reach out to a worker center that can support you.”

Wage theft is endemic to the carwash industry, but workers have a history of brave leadership, CLEAN reports.

After a multi-year investigation, the Playa Vista Carwash in Culver City, Calif. was cited $2.4 million dollars for massive violations of minimum wage and overtime laws – making it the largest citation against a carwash business in California.

According to a report published by the UCLA Labor Center, Los Angeles workers in low-wage jobs lose an estimated $1.4 billion to wage theft every year. In California, the loss is even more staggering. As a result of these injustices, working people in low-wage jobs and their families, a majority of whom are immigrants and/or people of color, experience health problems and face food and housing insecurity. In Los Angeles, 80 percent of workers in low-wage jobs do not get their overtime pay. Eighty percent do not receive their meal and rest breaks.