Hundreds of Cheesecake Factory workers owed part of a $1 million settlement in stolen wages still have not been paid, as California claims it cannot find them.
Just 42 of the more than 500 janitors have received their part of the settlement, leaving nearly $700,000 in unclaimed state accounts, a spokesperson for the Labor Commissioner's Office told CalMatters.
The former janitors were reportedly denied overtime pay and paid rest breaks at eight locations in San Diego and Orange County, officials said.
Alma Idelfonso, a former janitor at the Escondido location, told CalMatters that she and her four-person team were forced to work 10 to 12-hour shifts after they were given too much work that could not be completed in eight hours. She told the outlet that she worked her whole shift without breaks, and that the chemicals she used burned her chest.
"They told us, no, they weren't going to pay five people," she told CalMatters in Spanish.
Idelfonso was paid $20,000 in back wages, which she used to help buy a car and to support her sons. However, she felt that it does not quite make up for what she experienced.
"I worked sometimes 30 days in a row, I didn't rest," Idelfonso told the outlet. "I feel like it was very little what we got. I feel like my coworkers also got little, because they got even less."
The settlement was signed in October 2023 and officially announced in January of this year. The Labor Commissioner's Office has since made several social media posts, maintained a hotline for workers and did an interview for a Spanish-speaking TV station, asking the former janitors to come forward to collect their payments.
The amount the workers will receive is determined by the hours they worked during the three-year period audited by state investigators. Records reviewed by CalMatters indicated that dozens of workers are owed less than $50, while others can claim thousands of dollars. The highest payment was reported to be more than $35,000.
Daniel Gaxiola, senior deputy labor commissioner, told the outlet that the goal is to "ultimately get these monies back in the pockets of the affected workers, not just to win the settlements."
There is no deadline to claim the settlement by, however Gaxiola acknowledged that the reason it may be so difficult finding the workers is because many low-wage workers are often immigrants, some of whom may be undocumented. He said the workers may have moved, or might not even be in the U.S. now.
None of the companies admitted fault as a part of the settlement, however Americlean and janitorial subcontractor Zulma Villegas have apologized to the workers. Cheesecake Factory has also agreed to more closely monitor its janitorial contractors for the next two years.
