Employer Pays Janitor Part of Wages Owed

A former Los Angeles janitor received his first payment Tuesday from an employer convicted of withholding his wages, part of a larger regional effort to bring criminal charges against exploitative bosses in the maintenance industry.

Pedro Samudio Hernandez, 55, received one-quarter of an $8,500 payment from his former employer, Mukhtar Ahmad Choudhary of Silver Lake.

“I want to tell all of the workers not to [let themselves] be abused,” said Hernandez, an undocumented worker. “We need to defend our rights.”

The payment represents “a new level of protection for workers,” said Lilia Garcia, director of the pro-labor Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund. “The violations prosecuted in this case are widespread throughout the janitorial industry. Criminal prosecution is the most effective tool against unlawful contractors.”

In April, Choudhary pleaded guilty to failing to pay overtime and keep proper records for Hernandez and his wife, Josefina Gonzalez Bellez, 44, who live in the Pico-Union neighborhood.

The couple worked for Choudhary’s company, Taj Building Maintenance Services & Mobile Car Wash, cleaning offices in Tarzana and Sherman Oaks. Hernandez said Tuesday that he was forced to work as long as 19 hours without rest, was not paid the minimum wage or overtime, and was unjustly fired.

In February, Choudhary became one of the the first to be prosecuted in a new crackdown on employers who allegedly exploit janitors.

“We’re making a statement about janitors not getting paid minimum wage and overtime,” Deputy City Atty. Mark Lambert said. “We’re trying to get the word out that we’re going to deal with these [cases] seriously.”

Choudhary, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, was ordered to pay restitution and serve 90 days in jail or 60 days on a Caltrans work crew, Lambert said.

Hernandez, a father of six who has lived in Southern California for 13 years, is employed as a security guard. He said he was fired by Choudhary’s company for allegedly failing to empty a wastebasket.

The push by the city attorney’s office to prosecute comes as state legislators consider increased funding for labor standards enforcement.

Enforcement in the garment and janitorial industries will be the focus of hearings to be held by the Assembly’s Labor and Employment Committee later this month in downtown Los Angeles, said Chairman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood)

In 1982, the state Department of Industrial Relations’ staff of 441 policed a California labor force of 13.9 million workers, department spokesman Dean Fryer said. Since then, he said, the labor force has increased by 40%, but staffing has increased by only 6%.

“I don’t have much doubt that we really do need to expand,” Koretz said. “It’s pretty clear there are a lot of janitors, for example, working under the minimum wage.”