Employment Litigation – Los Angeles Janitors Really Clean Up To The Tune of $13,640,819.00

On April 17, 2000, the California Labor Commissioner, Angela Bradstreet, and the Attorney General, Edmund Brown, announced that they had joined forces and obtained a default jugment for $13,640,819,00 against two janitorial services (Excell Cleaning and Building Services Inc. and M.O. Restaurant Cleaning of California Inc.) operating in Los Angeles and two other southern California counties. The action was brought and won because the companies didn’t pay payroll taxes and failed to pay minimum wage and overtime to approximately 300 janitors. Congratulations to the State of California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet and Attorney General Edmund Brown!

Penalties and liquidated damages were included in the $13,640,819.00 judgment. Before the lawsuit was begun, California conducted an investigation that uncovered that the janitors were required to work 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for $50.00 per day and were misclassified as independent contractors so the companies wouldn’t have to pay payroll taxes. The default judgment was entered after both companies were served with the summons and complaint but failed to respond.For the full text of the California Labor Commissioner and State Attorney General press release, click here.