Settlement makes California’s largest residential care facility wage theft case
LOS ANGELES – One hundred and forty-eight individuals who worked at Adat Shalom Board and Care for the Elderly in the San Fernando Valley recovered $5.5 million in wages stolen from them while they were working as caregivers.
Through conversations with the workers, organizers with the Pilipino Workers Center discovered that Adat Shalom managers and owners were committing wage theft. An investigation into Adat Shalom by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office found that workers at six Adat Shalom locations in Southern California, the majority of whom are Filipino immigrants, worked 24-hour shifts, six days per week for as little as $2.40/hour with no overtime. Workers were required to continuously care for residents with Alzheimer’s, dementia as well as residents in wheelchairs and bedridden hospice patients.
“Though we have won and we are so happy to be receiving our owed wages today, in this whole process, my biggest highlight is not really the money,” said Sinagtala Limbo, a former worker at Adat Shalom. “I know many of my coworkers were initially very scared, but we worked together to find the courage to speak out about these injustices.”
The Labor Commissioner first cited Adat Shalom Board & Care December 2017, finding that the company subjected their employees to “oppressive working conditions.” The Pilipino Workers Center referred the case to the state agency and assisted in identifying workers during the investigation. In June 2019, the state of California brought a lawsuit against Angelica and Alexander Reingold, the owners of Adat Shalom, for fraudulently transferring assets. In the complaint, lawyers for the Labor Commissioner’s Office alleged that the Reingolds transferred five properties, valued at $4.8 million, out of the reach of creditors. The transferred properties include one of the facilities where workers had their wages stolen.
“This historically impactful victory upholding the law in an industry that is plagued by wage theft was only possible because of the strong partnerships between the workers, the Pilipino Workers Center, the Labor Commissioner’s Office, our legal partners at Bet Tzedek, and the whole team that worked on this for several years,” said Aquilina Soriano Versoza, executive director of PWC. “This collection of $5.5 million is a signal to all employers that the game has fundamentally changed. Enforcement of labor laws is real in the industry and if you don’t comply, there are very real consequences.”
“We hope this sends a loud and clear message to residential care home employers,” Yvonne Medrano with Bet Tzedek Legal Services said. “Pay your workers. If you don’t, we will go after you and we will fight vigorously to make sure that workers get money back in their pockets.” Bet Tzedek Legal Services represented workers during the Labor Commissioner’s Office citation appeal case.
Prior to the pandemic highlighting workplace safety issues in the residential care industry, Adat Shalom Board & Care, a company with a history of health and safety violations, the facility now is rebranded as “Land of Peace,” with the administrators under Adat Shalom as the official owners. The company is accused of attempting to bribe workers to drop the lawsuit and lie about working conditions at their facilities.
Pilipino and other immigrant communities are disproportionately affected by wage theft, often facing language and legal barriers to coming forward with complaints. PWC and other community-based organizations work with the Labor Commissioner to proactively address labor violations that workers in these marginalized communities face and workers have a history of brave leadership. Home care workers were misclassified and had their wages stolen, filed a complaint and the California Labor Commissioner’s Office ordered, Angel Connection and related entities, nearly $1.9 million in lost wages and penalties.
According to a report published by the UCLA Labor Center, Los Angeles workers in low-wage jobs lose an estimated $1.4 billion to wage theft every year. Statewide, the loss is even more staggering. As a result of these injustices, working people in low-wage jobs and their families, a majority of whom are immigrants and/or people of color, experience health problems and face food and housing insecurity. In Los Angeles, 80% of workers in low-wage jobs do not get their overtime pay. Eighty percent do not receive their meal and rest breaks. n
