Federal regulators have recovered $202,192 in back wages and damages for 13 workers at a Rancho Cucamonga car wash who were shortchanged on overtime hours and charged for lunch breaks that often were interrupted.
The investigation resulted in one worker receiving more than $43,000.
Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that MG Petroleum Inc., operator of Rancho Carwash at 10075 Arrow Route, attempted to hide its illegal actions by giving workers two paychecks — one for the first 40 hours worked and a second for overtime hours paid at straight-time rates.
They investigated the company’s payroll records from April 20, 2019, through Sept. 25, 2021.
“Rancho Carwash’s operator denied workers their overtime pay and then attempted to hide their illegal pay practices,” Gayane Aleksanian, assistant director for the department’s Wage and Hour Division in West Covina, said in a statement. “The costly consequences for their violations and their attempt to evade the law are now clear.”
The division also learned workers were required to take one-hour lunch breaks as customer demand dictated. Their meal breaks were often interrupted as a result, although the company still deducted an average of four hours per week for the breaks, labor officials said.
That constituted violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Representatives with MG Petroleum could not be reached for comment.
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