Fresno County Sues Car Wash for Unpaid Wages

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Wage and hour claims and lawsuits are nothing new in the State of California. In fact, a lot of cases surface involving inconsiderate employers who are found to have unpaid their employees the right and just amount of wages or salaries. Whether these incidents are purely unintentional or otherwise, the fact still remains: not being able to provide wages or salaries is a violation in the California labor laws.

Take for instance what happened to a car wash establishment in Fresno, California. The California Labor Commissioner Julie Su has filed a suit against the owner of White Glove car wash after the latter was found to have failed to provide its employees minimum wage and overtime pay, among all other labor law violations.

At least 33 workers of the said car wash were affected because of the alleged violations of the car wash establishment. The lawsuit is seeking more than $279,000.00 in unpaid wages and other damages as a result of the employer’s violations. Said suit was filed in the County Superior Court of Fresno.

Basically, the Labor Commissioner’s Office found in its investigation that the owner, Manbir Walia, failed to pay proper hourly wages and overtime pay to his employees. Evidence also found that the supervisor instructed the workers not to log in to their timecards upon arrival at the car wash establishment.

Sometimes, the workers had to wait for several hours before they could log in. Because of this, the lawsuit claimed, workers who have been working in a regular eight-hour stretch may have been paid less than the amount required for them receive.

According to Labor Commissioner Su, the employer breached “the basic promise of a just day’s pay for a hard day’s work.” Additionally, the state’s Department of Industrial Relations Director Christine Baker said that such “illegal actions hurt not only the employees but also honest businesses and taxpayers.”

Meanwhile, legal experts such as the Los Angeles employment lawyers continue to urge employees and workers who have been wronged by their employers to stand up for their rights.

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California’s Expanded Laws on Religious Accommodation in Employment

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The State of California is known having one of the most stringent yet diverse employment and labor laws. In fact, every year, amendments on certain legislations are implemented to further protect California employees from any acts of discrimination on their employers. These include expansions on some of the already-existing laws.

In fact, the start of the year 2013 brought new perspective on the employment and labor laws of the state. Some seven state laws were passed by the California legislature and Governor Jerry Brown since January 1, and one of them was the expansion of the state anti-discrimination laws protecting employees’ religious beliefs and practices.

Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees on the basis of the latter’s religious beliefs. Since January 1, the FEHA expanded its definition to include “religious dress and grooming practices” as stipulated in the California Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012 or WRFA.

To put it simply, the new law, and subsequently the FEHA amendments, state that California employers cannot discriminate or harass their employees who wear dresses or groom themselves to work as part of their religious obligation. Not only that; employers covered by the FEHA are also tasked to provide reasonable accommodation to their employees’ religious dress or grooming practice.

Under the WRFA, an employee is allowed to wear or carry any type of “religious clothing, head or face coverings, jewelry, artifacts and any other item” in observance “of his or her religious creed.” Meanwhile, an employee can groom him or herself as part of his or her observance of his or her religious creed, including head, facial, and body hair.

Moreover, the laws state that it is unreasonable for covered employers to provide accommodation to their employees if the latter is required to be segregated from either the public or from other workers. The California FEHA now recognizes it as an illegal employment move and a clear violation of the state anti-discrimination laws.

Such amendments further established California as a state that duly protects its employees from experiencing discrimination and harassment. Incidentally, if you have been a victim of discrimination in California after you have been fired from your job because of your dress or grooming practice, you may seek the expertise of a Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyer.

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