On July 16, 2025, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO) reported that it issued a citation to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC and three janitorial contractors to pay over $2 million in unpaid wages and penalties for illegally misclassifying 155 janitors at the Half Moon Bay, California hotel as independent contractors. The companies purportedly also denied the workers basic rights like minimum wage, overtime, sick leave, and workers’ compensation. About $1.9 million of the total citation will go directly to the janitors, and the rest is presumably penalties for the LCO.
Investigators reported finding that the Ritz-Carlton hired a Georgia-based contractor, Empire Unistar Management Inc., for janitorial services, which then subcontracted the work to two companies from Virginia and Florida. The LCO found that the labor contractors were jointly liable under Labor Code section 2810.3 for the employees’ damages. Additionally, the LCO found that none of the contracted janitorial companies were registered with California’s mandated janitorial registration program.