Car Wash Kingpin to Pay $3.9 Million to Settle Labor Violations | Hillman Foundation

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Car Wash Kingpin to Pay $3.9 Million to Settle Labor Violations

Car wash workers in New York City will receive compensation for a spate of labor violations at the hands of their boss, John Lage, and his associates, Erica Pearson reports: 

New York City’s carwash kingpin must pay millions to workers he cheated out of wages and clean up his businesses after an investigation uncovered massive labor violations, the Daily News has learned.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will announce Thursday that John Lage and two associates agreed to pay $3.9 million in a settlement to stave off potential prosecution.

“It’s a huge thing for me to know that justice is being done,” said Ernesto Salazar, 39, who has worked for Lage since 2001 and says he started out making just $3.50 an hour plus tips. “We’ve advanced in this industry, thank God.”

Schneiderman’s probe of 21 city carwashes owned and operated by Lage, his son Michael and associate Fernando Magalhaes, found widespread violations, including underpayment of workers and skimping on employees’ compensation and unemployment insurance costs by paying for coverage for only a fraction of the staff. [NYDN]

This settlement sends a message to employers that low-wage workers cannot be exploited with impunity in New York State. 

 

[Photo credit: jlseagull, Creative Commons.]