Janitorial Firms Clean Up With Immigrant Franchisees

Coverall is one company being sued. Image via Coverall.

The September 2014 ABA Journal reports on a class action that “could reshape the janitorial industry.”

According to the article, several large cleaning companies routinely market themselves to immigrants, and they hire these immigrants under a franchise model instead of as employees.

Attorneys representing these “franchisees” say their clients were, in fact, employees, subject to company control over “every aspect” of their jobs. As such, they argue, their clients are entitled to “at least” minimum wage. 

In the Coverall litigation, the “franchisees” won at the trial court level, and it is on appeal to the First Circuit.

-KitJ