FL Cleaning Business Facing Former Employee’s Wage and Hour Lawsuit

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Anago Cleaning Systems, Inc., Estrellita, Inc., and Anago Franchising Inc., which together operate a janitorial services “franchise system,” are the defendants in a proposed class action alleging they violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by misclassifying their workers as independent contractors and failing to pay proper wages. The complaint summarizes the suit as follows:

“Defendants structured their business enterprise in a way that attempts to avoid providing their workers with the protections afforded by the FLSA and the wage laws of various states, including guaranteed minimum wage, overtime pay, other wage protections, and other benefits of employment, such as eligibility for unemployment and workers’ compensation. Rather than properly classifying their cleaners as employees, Defendants deem these workers to be independent franchise owners, and therefore outside the scope of federal and state wage and hour protections.”

The defendants allegedly require workers, who they label as “franchisees,” to sign “highly technical and confusing” franchise agreements that dictate how cleaning agents are to perform their work. According to the complaint, the defendants “induce” workers into signing these agreements by promising them enough business to generate a certain monthly income but fail to deliver on that promise.

The suit argues that the level of control the defendants maintain over the agents’ work is characteristic of an employer-employee relationship rather than that of an independent contractor. The complaint claims that, as a result, the workers should be classified as employees and paid minimum and overtime wages.