Friday, August 20, 2010

DailyBreeze: Car-wash owning brothers get prison time, must pay wages in 'landmark' plea deal

Two brothers who own four Los Angeles car washes were each sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay $1.25 million in unpaid wages to 54 workers, in what the City Attorney's Office on Monday called a "landmark" plea deal.

"What occurred at the car washes doesn't fit the technical definition of `indentured servitude,' but people worked for years without receiving minimum wage or overtime; they worked in hazardous conditions where they were regularly exposed to chemicals and not provided with safety equipment to prevent injury; they weren't provided with drinking water. ... It was really a sweatshop," said Deputy City Attorney Julia Figueira-McDonough, who helped prosecute the case.

Benny and Nissan Pirian each pleaded no contest Friday to a half-dozen criminal counts, including conspiracy and grand theft, and several Labor Code violations, she said.

They were each sentenced to 365 days in jail and four years of probation, and ordered to pay restitution.

The brothers own Celebrity Car Wash and Hollywood Car Wash - both in Hollywood - as well as Five Star Car Wash in …

http://robocaster.com/dailybreeze/podcast-episode-home/news-ci_15798091/car-wash-owning-brothers-get-prison-time-must-pay-wages-in-landmark-plea-deal.aspx

 

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