The owner of a Chicago car care business must pay $799K in back wages and damages to disgruntled employees to settle a labor dispute.
Mariusz Lekarczyk owns our Chicago-area We Wash Hand Wash and Car Detail Centers and has been subject to a Department of Labor investigation into an ongoing battle between staff and the owner.
Chicago car care company in Department of Labor investigation
The Wage and Hours Division of the Department of Labor carried out the investigation. An employment complaint alleged that Lekarczyk was not currently paying employees overtime and did not keep up-to-date financial and staff records.
Record keeping is a required provision of government legislation, and the lack of recompense for time worked, including overtime, is a breach of employee rights set out in the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“The U.S. Department of Labor will take all necessary legal actions – including recovering back wages, seeking damages and assessing penalties – to hold employers who violate the law accountable,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Z. Heri in Chicago.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago ordered Lekarczyk and his company to pay the back wages owed by May 1, 2025 and penalties by August 1, 2025. He will pay $799,566 in back wages and damages to 110 employees and $110,990 in penalties to the U.S. Department of Labor in total.
“The recovery of these rightfully earned wages will have a tremendous impact on the employees who earned them and sends a clear message to all employers that we will not tolerate an employer’s failure to pay overtime,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Tom Gauza in Chicago. “We appreciate the court’s support in the Department of Labor’s fight on behalf of workers and in holding employers legally accountable.”
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