Car Wash Employee Worked 70 Hour Weeks With No Overtime, Class Action Alleges

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A former employee of a New York car wash cleaned and dried cars 70 hours a week for almost eight years and was never paid a cent in overtime wages, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Jose Caceres filed the class action complaint last Thursday against Uniondale’s 5-Minute Express Car Wash Corp. and its owner Gurminder Singh in a New York federal court, alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL).

Caceres says he was employed by the car wash from June 2013 to March 2021. He was a car wash worker tasked with cleaning and drying cars, along with other miscellaneous tasks, and says he worked 70 hours a week or more. 

However, according to the class action, Caceres was never paid the required time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours, which is “a blatant violation of the overtime provisions contained in the FLSA and NYLL,” he says.

Caceres says he was paid $8 per hour in 2015, and his hourly wage eventually crept up to $11 in 2020. He also worked about 10 hours per day from June 2015 to May 2021, and was not paid an extra hour at the legally prescribed minimum wage for each day worked over 10 hours, he alleges.

Again, the lawsuit alleges, this is “a blatant violation of the spread of hours provisions contained in the NYLL.” 

Caceres is looking to represent all other car wash employees hired at 5-Minute Express Car Wash who were not paid proper overtime under the law. He believes there are about five to 10 other employees in the Class.

In addition to underpaying its workers, Caceres alleges the car wash purposefully hid information about the minimum wage and overtime requirements, when they were required to put it up in a conspicuous place.

He’s seeking compensatory damages of more than $100,000, plus fees, costs, and a jury trial. 

Employees can sometimes secure a judgement or a settlement through suing under the FLSA and local labor laws. 

For example, last week entertainers at The Northern Gentlemen’s Club in Fargo, North Dakota, learned they may be entitled to a payment thanks to a $200,000 class action settlement agreement brought under the FLSA and state labor laws.

What do you think of the allegations in this class action lawsuit? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Roman Avshalumov of Helen F. Dalton & Associates, PC. The 5-Minute Express Car Wash Corp FLSA Class Action Lawsuit is Caceres et al., v. 5-Minute Express Car Wash Corp. et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-03563 in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York

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