SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Tower Car Wash in San Francisco is being sued for $3 million for business practices that denied full compensation to employees.

The suit, which was filed Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and lawyers from La Raza Centro Legal, claims that the business engages in unfair business practices and wage theft by forcing employees to report to their jobs hours before they are paid.

KCBS’ Barbara Taylor Reports:

“Workers have to report to a small, hot, dirty room with covered up windows, where they wait, unpaid, until a supervisor tells each person when they can clock in based on the number of customers on any given day,” said Donna Levitt with the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Levitt said audits conducted over the past three years show a pattern of violating the City’s minimum wage law.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said this case is a classic example of wage theft.

“It takes advantage oftentimes of immigrant communities and those at the lower levels of the income scale for nothing other than pure greed and profit,” Herrera said.

Car wash workers complained to the City and now, they are also concerned about any possible retaliation.

KCBS’ calls to the manager of the Tower Car Wash have not been returned.

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