Venice Car Wash Among 8 Settling Labor Suit

The former Marina Car Wash on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice is among eight California car washes that have agreed to pay more than $1 million in restitution to workers who claimed they were underpaid and denied rest and meal breaks, officials announced Tuesday.

The settlement was announced by California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, who called the businesses “unscrupulous” in “taking advantage” of their employees.

The car washes—including Bonus Car Wash on Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica —are owned by the Sikder family.

The family was named in a $6.6 million lawsuit filed by the Attorney General's office in the fall of 2010. It accused the car washes of exploiting workers and engaging in illegal business practices.

Based on interviews with more than 80 workers, the suit alleged that the businesses failed to register car washing and "polishing" employers as required under California law; failed to pay employees minimum wages for all the hours they worked and for overtime; made payments with checks drawn on insufficient funds; and did not provide employees with 10 minute breaks for meals and for every four hours they worked. 

Bonus Car wash in December 2010 by workers who were locked out of Marina Car Wash amid the labor dispute.

Marina Car Wash abruptly fired its workers in December 2010 and new ownership plans to reopen it as Beach Cities Car Wash.

As reported by and the Los Angeles Times in October, Bonus Car Wash workers became the first in Southern California to unionize after what workers there called a “two year struggle.”

In the settlement announced Tuesday, the businesses denied the allegations, saying they never undertook any actions that were “wrongful, unlawful or tortious.”

The agreement “is the result of compromise and extensive negotiations between the parties,” the settlement stated.

Along with more than $1 million in restitution of unpaid wages and civil penalties, the car washes are required to pay $50,000 in employment taxes.

The settlement requires that the first installment be paid by Jan. 15 and the second installment by July 15.