“California collects millions in stolen wages, but can’t find many workers to pay them”

Nearly a year after California settled a major wage theft case with The Cheesecake Factory, most of the money hasn’t reached the workers, underscoring the state’s challenges in helping employees get back pay…

Only 42 of the former janitors who worked for the restaurant chain’s contractors have received their cut of the settlement…

…workers hired by janitorial subcontractor Zulma Villegas were made to stay late by Cheesecake Factory managers.

In September, his office announced another settlement: $1.7 million against the owner of five Bakersfield Wingstop restaurants for alleged overtime violations. …

…Low-wage workers — on whom the state focuses when it investigates labor violations — are often immigrants, and sometimes undocumented…

…The state cited the restaurant chain, its contractor Americlean and subcontractor Villegas in 2018, for a combined $4 million. …

In a wage theft settlement announced in 2022 against the Adat Shalom residential care facilities in Los Angeles, the state has paid $1.8 million…

In a case against Ruby Rangoon restaurants in northern California that concluded in 2019, the state has paid $3.5 million to 238 workers… In a $1 million settlement at the famed San Francisco restaurant Z&Y, all 22 workers involved are receiving their payments, according to the office…