Payout Marks the Close of a Long Fight to Recover Hundreds of Thousands to 90 Workers
LOS ANGELES – More than 90 individuals recovered $438,204 in wages stolen from them while they were working for a janitorial subcontractor cleaning several healthcare facilities that are now owned by Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated.
Janitors at these facilities were systematically denied the minimum wage, meal and rest breaks and overtime payments and after the workers joined together with the MCTF to fight the injustice, the janitorial contractors they worked for were cited by the state of California for violating the law in 2021. A previous announcement by the Labor Commissioner’s Office found that Optum, the client employer, owed 90 workers wages and interest for wage and hour violations for work performed between 2017-2019.
“This case is an example of how some employers use multiple business entities to hide accountability and deny workers the wages they are owed,” said California Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower. “California’s labor laws are clear: when wage theft occurs, the companies
that benefit from workers’ labor share responsibility and will be held accountable.”
“I want other janitors to know that when your boss doesn’t pay you as they should, you can fight back and recover the money you are owed like we did. It may take a long time, but we stood together and we won. That is very powerful,” said Fanny Mendoza.
Janitors who worked for the following companies between 2017 and 2019 should contact MCTF at 833-4-JANITOR (833-452-6486) to learn more:
- Winsor Maintenance, Inc;
- Main Source Group, Inc;
- Winsor Services, Inc;
- Main Source Global, Inc;
- Main Source World, Inc;
- Top Building Material & Supply, Inc.
Last November, with a key deadline for the employer to appeal the citations drawing near, the MCTF along with the Mayor of Long Beach, labor advocates and community members called on Optum, to take responsibility for wage theft.
“Wage theft is all too common. Recovery of those wages is becoming more common and that is a good thing for every single worker in California,” said Chloe Osmer, executive director of the MCTF. “The people who cleaned these healthcare facilities play an important role in our health system and they should be compensated fairly. Today they have at last achieved justice.”
The MCTF is a California statewide watchdog organization in the janitorial industry. MCTF investigators, former janitors themselves, work with janitors to identify potential employment law violations and expose unlawful business practices. MCTF has helped workers recover a total of $776,866 in owed wages over the last year.
Details about the Wage Theft that Occurred at the Current Optum Buildings:
- Workers were employed by a “web of interlocking janitorial companies that employed – and failed to properly pay – their employees” according to the Notice of Final Findings on Civil Penalty Citation/Assessment and Order issued by the State of California Dept. of Industrial Relations Labor Commissioner’s Office on Oct. 21.
- The full list of responsible parties in the case are: Winsor Maintenance, Inc.; Winsor Services, Inc.; Main Source Group, Inc.; Main Source Global, Inc.; Main Source World, Inc.; Top Building Material & Supply, Inc.; OptumCare Management LLC; and individuals Suchin Yi, Hannah Hong, Michelle Hong and Sunkee Hong.
- The janitors primarily worked for a contractor called Main Source and they usually provided one of three types of work: day-porter work when patients and medical personnel were in the office, night-shift work, and waxing floors/carpet cleaning work.
- Based on testimony, Main Source appeared to use the timesheets to reflect the hours and breaks budgeted by Main Source for its contracts rather than the hours the employees in fact worked.
- Main Source no longer provides janitorial services at these buildings.
According to a report published by the UCLA Labor Center, Los Angeles workers in low-wage jobs lose an estimated $1.4 billion to wage theft every year. Statewide, the loss is even more staggering. As a result of these injustices, working people in low-wage jobs and their families, a majority of whom are immigrants and/or people of color, experience health problems and face food and housing insecurity. In Los Angeles, 80% of workers in low-wage jobs do not get their overtime pay. Eighty percent do not receive their meal and rest breaks.
The Workplace Justice Lab@Rutgers University analyzed federal data to estimate minimum wage violations in four of California’s largest metropolitan areas for the years 2014 through 2023. Researchers found that industries with the highest estimated violation rates tend to employ many women, people of color, and immigrant workers.
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About the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund: The MCTF is a California statewide watchdog organization whose mission is to abolish illegal and unfair business practices in the janitorial industry. The MCTF investigates allegations of employment law violations and partners with local, state, and federal enforcement agencies to hold unscrupulous contractors accountable.