Cropped Cheesecake Factory Restaurant Photo by Wikipedia User Anthony92931 via Creative Commons License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
National restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory and some of its contractors have paid $1 million to settle a massive wage theft case in California. In the lawsuit, state labor officials accused the company of forcing hundreds of cleaners to work overtime and take breaks.
Cleaners at eight Cheesecake Factory restaurants in Orange and San Diego counties were forced to work up to 10 additional hours a week without being paid for overtime, the state Labor Commission announced. Said in the 2018 quote.
“My co-workers and I had to work through the night cleaning restaurant kitchens and dining rooms,” said Naxili Perez, who worked as a cleaner at a San Diego cheesecake factory from 2016 to 2018. I worked until the morning without taking any breaks.'' ”
Officially announced by the State Labor Commissioner's Office. settlement And he handed out checks to former workers at an event in San Diego this month. What the secretariat wants now is attract the attention of other former employees People who are eligible to receive payment for unpaid work performed between 2014 and 2017.
The agreement, reached last fall, represents a long-delayed resolution to one of the state's most important cases. Wage theft. To persuade workers to cooperate with the state, the Labor Committee worked with the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund. The fund is a worker advocacy center that employs former janitors to research conditions in the industry.
Such partnerships are part of the state's efforts. Recent Strategies for Filing Wage Theft Cases Oppose major employers who want to send a message to the entire industry. Lilia Garcia-Brower, who was the trust fund's director at the time of the accusations, is now the state's labor commissioner.
The citation was one of the department's first uses of a 2015 law that regulates companies that hire cleaning contractors. Be jointly responsible for workplace violations. Yardenna Aaron, executive director of the trust, said the settlement is the first of its kind in the cleaning industry.
For years, worker advocates have argued that the rise in contracting and subcontracting in administrative work has led to small employers closing up shop, declaring bankruptcy or changing their names when accused of wage theft. While it is easy to do so, many have complained that building owners and other companies that employ them do so. They shied away from responsibility.
In the Cheesecake Factory case, the company contracted with the state-run American Janitorial Services Corporation to clean the restaurant. American, in turn, subcontracted the work at eight Southern California locations to a cleaning company called Magic Touch. According to the state.
“This is a message to all the brand names out there,” Aaron said in a press release. “There are very real consequences for not ensuring that contractors comply with laws that protect workers.”
But the case also illustrates the hurdles in enforcing California's strict labor laws in low-wage industries that primarily employ immigrant workers.
When the state named these companies in 2018, it estimated the total amount in unpaid wages and damages for more than 500 workers would be nearly $4 million.
The Cheesecake Factory and its contractors appealed, which is common for employers in such citations. Appellate documents previously obtained by CalMatters show that over the next two years, the case became mired in evidentiary disputes and scheduling conflicts.
Then the pandemic hit and the appeal was put on hold until January 2021. Settlement negotiations progressed by August 2022, and an agreement was signed in September 2023, but for only a quarter of the original offer.
“California has very strong laws,” Garcia-Brower said Tuesday. “These laws are not being utilized as much as we would like.”
Part of that is because proving the role of multiple companies in alleged workplace violations takes time and makes worker testimony more important, she said.
Now, the state and the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund want the company's former janitors to be compensated for the unpaid work they did nine years ago. The trust fund said in a press release that it has been in contact with about 60 former workers and believes about 500 more may be eligible.
(619) is a manager who worked at Cheesecake Factory restaurants in Brea, Irvine, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, Escondido, and San Diego from August 31, 2014 to August 31, 2017. They are asked to call 767-2039.
