By Lookout Staff

January 11, 2011 -- Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, which became the only unionized car wash in the country last October, is part of a $1 million settlement with eight California car washes that underpaid workers and violated labor laws, the state attorney general's office announced Tuesday.

The car washes routinely denied to pay workers minimum wage and overtime, failed to pay those who quit or were terminated and denied workers rest and meal breaks, said Attorney General Kamala Harris. The car washes also created false records of time worked.

In addition, the car washes operated without proper licensing for years, prosecutors said.

"Workers at these car washes were taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers who illegally denied them the pay and benefits they earned," Harris said. "I am pleased that the resolution of this case will allow workers to receive the pay they are owed."

The car wash owners denied the allegations.

The Bonus car wash at 2800 Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica unionized on October 25 after almost four years of campaigning. The union contract secured a wage increase, health and safety protections and the right to arbitration, among other benefits.

The settlement comes after abuses in the car wash industry in Los Angeles garnered nationals headlines.

A New York Times article in 2010 reported that about two-thirds of the 500 car washes in the city pay their workers less than minimum wage, as well as committing other violations of labor law.

According to the Times, workers are often not paid for time when cars aren't being washed, are denied lunch and aren't given proper goggles or gloves to use in their work. Sometimes, they are only allowed to take home tips, but are paid no wages.

The lawsuit was filed in 2010 after investigators interviewed 80 car wash employees, many of them low-wage, unskilled workers who spoke no English, according to prosecutors.

In addition to Bonus in Santa Monica, the car washes named in the lawsuit are located in Venice, Fair Oaks, Folsom, San Ramon, Irvine, Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel.