Things you should not do when running a business (a partial list): Work people under eighteen more than eight hours a day; have anyone work more than forty hours a week and pay them for 25; owe $313,333 in back wages to 292 current and former workers. But, yet, that’s what the Department of Labor has uncovered at the Octopus Car Wash locations here in Tucson.
The lowlight? When it wasn’t busy at these car washes, the management would take the employees off the clock, but require them to stay on premises until a manager or supervisor told them to work again. Of course, these unpaid breaks would at times last up to three hours.
Octopus has paid back wages to the employees they could find, but they were unable to find 200 former employees who are apparently just out of luck. Octopus was also forced to pay an undisclosed fine for over working one 14-year-old and two 15-year-olds.
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2013.
Go to Mo’s at 22 and Swan. Better choice.
C C,s pizza does the same with it,s employees. MY GRANDSON WORKED THERE.
Unless the employees contact the Labor Department and make a complaint nothing will get done.
sieze and sell off the car wash, give the money to the employees!
Was this also true @the Octopus in Sahuarita?
First time I can remember DOL enforcing anything to do with labor violations in Tucson, I guess a car wash forgot to pay off someone’s lawyers this month. The car wash wouldn’t have made this their practice for so long if they weren’t sure they could get away with it. -they are still gettin’ away with it…
The ones they “haven’t found” are not out of luck. The Department of Labor is actually responsible for tracking down employees that are no longer employed.
Ah yes that “right to work(for less)” how is that working for ya anyway? Just that same old GREED shining through. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn these fine people are upstanding church going folks.
Hard Workin Man – good luck trying to get the Department to do anything. The Department will probably blame the workers for turning in the employer – making them bad employees that deserved the unlawful treatment they got from the car wash. I’ve seen the Tucson Office of DOL in action before – those poor employees are screwed.
“Many Tentacles in the Pockets of Those That Serve You” – new motto
Its a shame octopus can’t go out of business or be taken over by better owners. They damaged my car’s exhaust, the same car I had been taking their for over two years and blamed the car’s exhaust for being to low-hanging. It worked every time before and they couldn’t admit it was their new employee who drove it into the car wash. I will never give that company another dime. Ever.
“292 current and former workers. But, yet, that’s what the Department of Labor has uncovered at the Octopus Car Wash locations here in Tucson.” – WoW, Tucson DOL sure acted swiftly to prevent that 293rd occurrence!
The Octopus car wash in Sahuarita is not affiliated with the Tucson car washes. Different owners who treat and pay their employees fairly.
Slapped? – a slap on the wrist maybe. DOL may just as well be a shadow organization, their actions in Tucson are practically unheard of.
Have any of the workers filed an ULP (Unfair Labor Practice) complaint with the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)? – Tucson enforcement of labor law is so rarely heard of yet the national standards might have a remote chance of being enforced. I wonder how many other workers in Tucson have been cheated out of their wages and did not know that they have an avenue to a remedy. – Dan, please write a follow up on this article to see if any of the other 200 former workers were made whole, or if the Octopus successfully “suckered” all of them.
Workers’ basic rights are routinely violated in the United States because U.S. labor law is so feebly enforced and so filled with loopholes, Human Rights Watch said in this report. Human Rights Watch examined workers’ rights to organize, to bargain collectively, and to strike under international norms. It found widespread labor rights violations across regions, industries and employment status. source: Human Rights Watch
Corporate America objected to the Tucson Weekly posting this article so now we get to “Watch Will Ferrell Watch People Make Arepas” from Feb 2012 in the most viewed/commented rankings of the home page instead of seeing this article about the Octopus car wash “suckering” it’s workers.
Where is the Justice anyway?