Hi-Tek Car Wash at 2981 Coney Island Avenue was sued on Wednesday by 17 of its workers, who claimed they were not paid minimum wage or properly compensated for overtime, according to the Daily News.

The immigrant workers, which included current and past washers, filed a federal lawsuit against their employers for bridging their legal rights.

The Daily News said that the workers stated that they received less that $7.25 an hour, including tips. Workers also told the Daily News that they frequently labored for more than 40 hours a week, yet they did not receive legally mandated overtime pay.

Aaron Morales Romero, 23, a former Hi-Tek employee, said to the Daily News that he worked at Hi-Tek for five years but quit in March because he couldn’t support himself making only $5.25 an hour, in addition to a small amount of tips.

Gary Pinkus, a manager at Hi-Tek, claimed that allegations were false.

“They [campaign organizers] are brainwashing employees to take their side. That they are not paid properly is not true,” said Pinkus to the Daily News.

The Daily News said workers filed the suit with assistance from WASH New York, a campaign run by two nonprofit organizations: Make the Road New York and New York Communities for Change. WASH New York is also supported by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

A Brooklyn car wash got served by its workers Wednesday.

Seventeen current and former washers at Hi-Tek Car Wash in Brighton Beach filed a federal lawsuit against the company, saying they were stiffed on overtime and didn’t get minimum wage.

The legal move, which follows a similar suit at a different car wash in the Bronx, is the latest step in a citywide campaign to clean up the industry amid a unionization drive.

The employees’ lawsuit claims they earned less than the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour with tips factored in.

Workers also said they often toiled for more than 40 hours a week without getting overtime — and that managers withheld tips to pay for damage to vehicles.

Aaron Morales Romero, 23, said he worked at Hi-Tek for five years but left this March because he couldn’t make ends meet earning $5.25 an hour with little tips.

“The work is good, but what isn’t good is the salary and the mistreatment,” said Morales. “Sometimes they would call us on our days off, and not give us overtime … the way my co-workers are still working is a disaster.”

A Hi-Tek manager said the claims were untrue.

“They [campaign organizers] are brainwashing employees to take their side. That they are not paid properly is not true,” said Gary Pinkus.

The immigrant employees filed suit with help from WASH New York, a campaign run by nonprofits Make the Road New York and New York Communities for Change and backed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Organizers have been ramping up their efforts to change the way car washes treat their workers in New York City, and judging from recent events, it seems that they’ve generated a bit of momentum. For example, earlier today, the New York Daily News reported a new federal lawsuit placed against a car wash business, and advocates involved in the effort told The Politicker they feel the tipping point is almost at hand.

“I’ve been amazed by the number of elected officials that have reached out to us that tell us that they want to get involved, even elected officials without a lot of car wash workers residing in their districts,” the president of the RWDSU Stuart Appelbaum, said. “There’s a sense that this is more than just car wash workers but what sort of city we want New York to be.”

The issue, labor and immigration advocates say, are the below-minimum wages paid to workers, unsafe working conditions, and lack of overtime pay, among other things. And, elected officials — many of whom are running for citywide office — are increasingly getting involved, even though many of those affected are undocumented and thus cannot vote for them.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Councilman Dan Garodnick, candidates for mayor and comptroller respectively, recently trekked up to East Harlem to rally for the cause with various other officials, and the four other leading candidates for mayor have all taken notice as well.

“We’ve had good conversations with both John Liu and with Bill Thompson and Scott Stringer, and I think Christine [Quinn] supports the legislation [to regulate car wash businesses],” Jon Kest, the executive director of New York Communities for Change, explained.

“You don’t see issues that are so clear cut every day where you have thousands of workers so underpaid and exploited in an industry that’s totally unregulated,” he added. “I think organizations that they generally respect like NYCC, Make the Road New York and the RWDSU are doing the organizing, and they’re running for political office, so it just adds up.”

The New York Daily News reported last week on workers at the Xcellent Car Wash in the Bronx who are suing their employer for unpaid wages and overtime, and on the ongoing efforts of the WASH New York to reform the car wash industry in New York City. Read the full story.

(New York, NY — Sharyn Jackson, WNYC) New York City City Council members have introduced legislation that would require all car washes register for a license with the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Harlem Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito announced the bill to more than 50 protestors who gathered on the steps of City Hall. She said she was surprised when she learned that car washes didn’t already need licenses.

“This industry, I mean, you’re talking about heavy machinery, you’re talking about chemicals that are being used, it’s not regulated in any way,” she said. “But as a city, we’ve got to step up to the plate, and ensure that they’re doing right by these workers.”

The industry is under fire for allegations of overworking and underpaying employees. According to an investigation by the New York State Department of Labor, almost 80 percent of the city’s car wash owners had wage and hour violations.

“New York City, we love to be stylish here, there’s no question,” said Councilman James Sanders, who chaired a council hearing on the bill today. “We love our cars and we love to look good, but we don’t want to do it at the expense of anyone.”

But car wash owners have told Transportation Nation they treat their workers fairly and safely.

The New York City Council is looking to clean up the city’s car wash industry.

City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito announced the Car Wash Accountability Act Wednesday. Currently, city car washes are unregulated, and don’t require a license to operate. Mark-Viverito says this leads to hazardous working conditions and unfair wages. “There have been reports by the Department of Labor that have documented the number of labor violations against workers,” she says, “We need to have these owners be accountable and be responsible.”

Adan Nicholas, a car wash worker from Astoria, says he makes less than minimum wage and doesn’t receive any tips.

“Two times a week they make us sign a paper declaring that we make $20-$25 a day in tips,” he says speaking through an english translator, “but it’s not true.”

The act will require car washes to get a license from the city in order to operate.

Click here to read the original story and listen to the segment.

To improve working conditions, lawmakers push for annual licensing of the city’s 200 car-wash operators. Fines could reach $15,000 a year.

Local lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would force the city’s 200 car-wash operators to obtain an annual license or pay fines of up to $15,000 a year.

To get a license from the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs, operators would have to divulge details of company ownership, certify compliance with local, state and federal laws, and obtain a $300,000 bond to cover unpaid fines and penalties. A business could be denied a license based on past violations or unpaid taxes.

Consumer Affairs already licenses 55 industries in the city, ranging from Laundromats to locksmiths. The measure’s prime sponsor, City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, said her bill would ensure “that workers are protected from harm” and “consumers receive a car wash at a standard they can count on.”

The bill is the latest effort by unions and community groups to improve the conditions for approximately 5,000 car-wash workers in the city. Make the Road York and New York Communities for Change are leading the effort and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union is simultaneously trying to organize workers into a union.

In addition to the legislation, the City Council is also holding a hearing Wednesday afternoon on working conditions at car washes. In 2008, state investigators found nearly 80% of operators in the city violated minimum wage and overtime laws.

The New York State Car Wash Association, the local industry’s leading advocacy group, only has three members in the city and said it did not yet have a comment on the bill. Since the car-wash campaign began, the group has tried to distinguish its members, who operate primarily upstate and on Long Island, from nonmember operators in the city. The group has conducted seminars with the state Department of Labor on minimum wage and overtime laws.

“We do not condone business practices that violate the law and our membership standards,” said Suzanne Stansbury, executive director of the association.

The campaign has focused much of its attention on Lage Management Corp., a Pelham-based operator with about 20 car washes in the five boroughs. A press release on the bill cited an investigation of Lage by the state attorney general’s office.

“As of right now we don’t know if it will be positive or negative for us,” said Jennifer Lage, a company manager. “We value our employees, so whatever benefits them, we’re not afraid of it.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs did not have an immediate comment. In California, the other major city where efforts have been made to organize workers at car washes, operators must apply for a registration certificate from the state’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.