Office Of Labor Standards Reaches Settlement With Seattle Cleaning Company

(Photo credit: iStockphoto.com/JaruekChairak)

The Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) announced a settlement agreement with Susan’s Green Cleaning, a home cleaning company with approximately 25 employees in Seattle, under the Minimum Wage, Paid Sickness and Safe Time (PSST) and Wage Theft Regulations. The financial appeal included $ 291,306.54 to 98 workers for negotiated arrears and damages for the period May 3, 2016 through December 31, 2019. The settlement also included fines of $ 667.56 to the City of Seattle .

After OLS received complaints from workers, OLS investigated a number of allegations against the company, including:

• The Seattle minimum wage for some employees could not be paid;
• Unauthorized deductions made from employees’ salaries to cover training costs and costs of defective or lost equipment;
• No paid breaks or consistent meal breaks provided;
• Some employees were not paid for all hours worked;
• Failure to provide Company Tipping Policy to employees;
• had a sick leave scheme that violated a number of provisions of the PSST Regulation, including carry over rules;
• Failure to track and maintain records of basic PSST information;
• Failure to provide employees with the required notification of their PSST balances; and
• Had a retaliatory policy of denying workers a $ 2 an hour bonus for periods of pay when they were using PSST.

“This deal highlights workplace violations that often go unreported, such as alleged unpaid work and missed breaks that house cleaners and other domestic workers may experience due to the nature of their work in private households. This time, because of the brave people reporting workplace violations to the Office of Labor Standards at Susan’s Green Cleaning, these workers will get the remedies they deserve, “said Baily Freeman and Silvia Gonzales, co-chairs of the Domestic Workers Standards Board. “It is important that employers and hiring companies recognize the work of domestic workers, both in households and in a larger company, by putting them first and by adhering to Seattle labor standards.”

When initially contacted by OLS, Susan’s Green Cleaning began modifying and improving their systems during the course of the investigation, fixing numerous suspected violations before reaching an agreement with OLS. “We recognize Susan’s Green Cleaning efforts to regain compliance and approve labor standards training. We’re here to help all Seattle businesses stay compliant with free training and technical assistance. The better informed Seattle companies are about labor rights and labor laws, the better the economy as a whole, ”said Steven Marchese, director of OLS.