My office has led the fight to stand up for workers against companies who misclassify employees as independent contractors and deny employee protections and benefits. After filing a lawsuit last year against Qwick, we reached a historic settlement this week in which the hospitality staffing company agreed to reclassify its California workers as employees and pay $2.1 million for lost benefits and civil penalties.
This groundbreaking agreement includes the first permanent public injunction in California to require a gig economy staffing company to permanently reclassify thousands of workers.
Hospitality work is grueling, and our hotel and restaurant workers deserve to be treated fairly. In this instance, Qwick contractors were denied important benefits like overtime, sick leave and meal breaks.
Anand Singh, President of UNITE HERE Local 2, said it best: “This settlement is a huge victory for Qwick workers who are entitled to the same protections, wages, and benefits as their peers employed at hotels and restaurants. We appreciate the work of the City Attorney’s Office to enforce the law in San Francisco. Employers should be on notice that they can’t get away with worker misclassification here in our city.”
Importantly, this decision also ensures that hospitality staffing companies that do play by the rules aren’t put at a competitive disadvantage to companies that misclassify their workers.
Read more about our groundbreaking settlement in the SF Chronicle.