Supermarket Scheme Uncovered By SEIU.

Checks for as much as $10,000 began going out today to more than two thousand Latino janitors who won $22.4 million in the largest class action settlement involving the failure of janitorial subcontractors to pay their employees according to overtime and minimum wage laws.

The supermarkets’ scheme was uncovered by SEIU which conducted an investigation over a number of years and referred the case to the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund (MCTF), a Los Angeles-based industry watchdog group funded by SEIU and responsible janitorial companies concerned with ensuring high standards in the cleaning industry. Before pursuing the lawsuit, SEIU repeatedly presented evidence of the wage and hour violations to the supermarkets urging them to correct the practices, but the supermarkets took no action.

The janitors who were hired to clean Ralph’s, Safeway, Vons and Albertsons grocery stores reported being assigned to work seven days a week, sometimes 365 days a year, without any payment whatsoever for the thousands of overtime hours worked every year. As a result, the hourly pay of many janitors often was less than even the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. According to the Los Angeles District Attorney, who pursued criminal cases against some of the subcontractors, many janitors were paid as little as $2.47 per hour. The supermarket chains agreed to pay the settlement money because attorneys for the janitors found enough information to show that the supermarket chains exercised control over the janitors’ working conditions, even though the markets were not officially their direct employers. Subcontractors are sometimes used by companies to avoid liability for these types of practices.

The landmark settlement is the largest of a growing number of lawsuits over unlawful employment practices, known as “wage and hour” claims, involving the practices of janitorial subcontractors of major U.S. corporations. The nation’s largest janitors’ union, SEIU is leading an effort to police janitorial companies — and the corporations that hire them — that skirt the law.