At Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, we work for just, safe, inclusive and democratic workplaces. As we watch the destruction of our social safety nets and terrorizing of our immigrant communities, we know that economic justice and collective action have the power to rebuild and reform our communities. We bring you the second of three stories of that power.
Over the last four years, NWJP has been helping thirty-four janitorial workers in Oregon and Washington in their suit against National Maintenance Contractors and related organizations. The janitors have alleged that NMC deliberately misclassified them as franchises to avoid its employer responsibilities, including having to pay them the federal or state minimum wage.
These NMC janitors allege that they were promised the “American dream.” They paid hefty initial franchise fees to work for NMC as “business owners” and were forced to sign lengthy franchise agreements, comprising over 100 pages, entirely in English. These janitors, who are immigrants and spoke very little English, were unaware of the one-sided terms that heavily favored NMC before signing.
One of the terms of the franchise agreement was a forced arbitration clause that would have denied the janitors the right to a jury trial in court. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled the clause was unconscionable and unenforceable in 2022, and allowed the janitors’ case to continue in federal court.
Once the janitors became “franchisees”, a very abusive employment relationship began. Unlike people in business for themselves, the janitors recount instances when NMC forced them to take unprofitable accounts and often threatened to terminate their franchise agreement if they refused to abide by the work assigned. Making claims of trafficking, the janitors claim that these threats kept the janitors in involuntary servitude and debt bondage, forced to work for little to no income.
But the janitors did not chalk their experience up to just a failed “business.” They have banded together in a mass actionlawsuit to make a bold statement against an insidious practice of selling janitorial franchises to low-wage employees. While the case is ongoing, its precedent has the potential of reforming janitorial franchise practices and changing the balance of power, even a small amount, in the favor of low-wage and immigrant workers.
SEIU Local 49 helped NWJP and our clients understand the abuse nature of the contracts and the full scale of the problem. NWJP is co-counseling this case with talented attorneys at Radford Scott LLP and Pickett Dummigan Weingart. Public Justice assisted the clients on their appeal on the enforceability of the arbitration agreement.