Illinois car wash fails to pay overtime, faces $800k in backpay and $110K in penalties
CHICAGO (WTVO) — The owner and operator of four We Wash Hand Wash and Car Detail Centers has been ordered to pay $799,566 in backpay and damages to 110 employees. He also owes $110,990 in penalties to the Department of Labor.
A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago ordered Mariusz Lekarczyk and the car detail company to pay back wages to employees on September 19th.
The owner must pay the back wages by May 1, 2025, and penalties by August 1, 2025. He must also post information and posters for employees reminding them of their labor rights.
The complaint alleges that Lekarczyk and the company paid workers for the first 40 hours they worked and paid overtime by cash without overtime rates. He did not keep a record of payments either, which the law requires.
"The recovery of these rightfully earned wages will have a tremendous impact on the employees who earned them and sends a clear message to all employers that we will not tolerate an employer's failure to pay overtime," Wage and Hour Division District Director Tom Gauza told Lake & McHenry County Scanner . "We appreciate the court's support in the Department of Labor's fight on behalf of workers and in holding employers legally accountable."
the locations in Chicago were investigated in 2013 for violations before the current investigation.
"The U.S. Department of Labor will take all necessary legal actions – including recovering back wages, seeking damages and assessing penalties – to hold employers who violate the law accountable," said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Z. Heri in Chicago.
