Anita Zaragoza left her job of almost two years in an industrial laundromat because she kept making under minimum wage and was subjected to other problematic working conditions, she said. On Tuesday, Zaragoza returned to the premises with a former co-worker, Ana Alvarado, to serve a lawsuit against the owners of Three Brothers Laundry, Inc., 2643 W. 19th St., between the Little Village and Douglas Park neighborhoods.
A third plaintiff continues working for the company.
While the minimum wage in Chicago is $11.00 an hour (and goes up to $12 on July 1st), the lawsuit alleges that the three women were paid $8.50.
Zaragoza assured HOY that a large part of the workforce is of Indian descent and are paid even less at $7.00 an hour, but none of them joined what they hope will become a class-action lawsuit, fearing backlash due to their immigration status.
In the five months she was there, Alvarado said she worked seven days a week, at times from 7am to 10pm, without receiving overtime pay or a day off. The employees were also not allowed to take vacation time. “We are there dying of thirst and of hunger because they give us one single break of 15 minutes,” Alvarado said.
Working with steam, temperatures can soar inside the laundromat during the summer and Three Brothers does not provide any drinking water, she said. Workers must bring their own water bottles, which typically run out after working a 10 to 12-hour shift.
Attorney Jorge Sanchez and the organization Working Family Solidarity accompanied the women to deliver a copy of the suit to Nickesh Patel, co-owner of the laundromat who claimed he was just a regular employee and refused to comment on the allegations.
“They have 21 days to show up or file an appearance in court and answer the complaint. We will seek to certify a collective action, which means we’d like to bring all of the workers who have been affected, who work here now and who have worked here in the last three years, and we’ll seek permission from the judge to do so,” Sanchez said.
He estimates that up to 40 people could be eligible for the suit.
“We do not have an exact computation, but we think [the stolen wages] are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the lawyer said.
The former employees hope to recover twice the wages that are owed to them, 2 percent interest, job security at Three Brothers for those who wish to continue working there, but earning Chicago’s minimum wage and time-and-a-half for each hour exceeding 40 hours a week.