State Labor Commissioner Colleen C. Gardner today announced a $1.9 million settlement with the operators of a New York City car wash who failed to pay minimum and overtime wages to their employees. The DOL investigation covered the period of June 1, 2003 through August 23, 2008.

David Winter, Ehud Cafri and Ori Apple, operators of the Broadway Bridge Carwash located at 5134 Broadway in Upper Manhattan, failed to pay $1,273,664 in minimum wages, overtime wages and earned tips to their employees. Of this amount, $858,322 is owed to 36 employees for whom the operators maintained partial payroll records. Another $415,342 is owed to employees who have yet to be identified, since the car wash operators paid some employees in cash and did not report them on the payroll.

"This car wash business did business by ignoring labor laws," said Commissioner Gardner. "It was bad enough that workers were not paid minimum wage and overtime for a grueling, 72-hour workweek, but the employer also tried to hide its actions by paying many employees off-the-books. I commend those workers who came forward to expose this employer's shameful acts."

Employees generally worked 12 hours a day, six days a week at the car wash, for a total of 72 hours per week, without being paid overtime as required by law. Some earned as little as $3.75 an hour when the minimum wage was $6.75 (they were paid $270 per week when they should have been paid $594 with overtime), and $4.00 an hour when the minimum wage was $7.15 (they were paid $288 per week when they should have been paid $629 per week with overtime). Employees earned small amounts in tips, which they were forced to share with other, non-service employees. (click on link to read full story)