Transforming Car Wash Worker Rights: An Analysis of California’s Car Wash Worker Law
As of today, the car wash industry in the United States has close to 17,000 establishments with 163,178 paid employees. Like in many industries with predominantly immigrant workforces, car wash employers skirt minimum wage laws by paying workers through only tips, by having workers on stand-by without pay, or through per car and daily rates. In 2003, AB 1688 passed in the legislatures, and required car wash owners to register with the Labor Commissioner’s Office (DLSE) and imposed a fine on car wash owners who refused to comply. However, by 2008, only 65% of the estimated 1,600 car washes were registered and in compliance with the law. Our report was compiled to answer the following policy question: How effective have AB 1688 (2003) and AB 1387 (2013) been in addressing wage theft for carwashers in California? Our research consists of a combination of quantitative data analysis of wage claim filings and qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with carwashers, labor law attorneys, Deputy Labor Commissioners, and industry stakeholders conducted between January and March 2022.Based on our findings we provided four policy alternatives to optimize the existing Car Wash Worker Law and deter wage theft violations in the industry. Each policy option was evaluated based on four selected criteria through a Criteria Alternative Matrix model. Based on the evaluation of our proposed policies, we recommend CLEAN advocate for:(1) A budget change proposal to hire more personnel at the DLSE, (2) Improve data collection and transparency by the DLSE,(3) Require car wash industry specific postings in English and Spanish to inform carwashers of their rights, and(4) Inserting more punitive legislative language into the Car Wash Worker Law that penalizes “off-the- clock” wage theft” wage theft.
