Long Beach prosecutor secures city's first wage theft consent decree against local business
The owners of Mattress Factory Direct in North Long Beach were convicted of eight counts of wage theft and ordered to pay more than $45,000.
Two Downey residents will have to pay victims more than $45,000 after Long Beach secured its first wage theft consent decree, the city prosecutor's office said Friday.
Downey residents Arturo Mendoza Zavala, 58, and his son Alberto Zavala, 31, who operate Mattress Factory Direct in North Long Beach, were convicted of eight counts of wage theft and ordered to pay six victims, according to Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert.
The Zavalas were charged after evidence showed they were paying several employees in cash at a rate below minimum wage, failed to pay overtime and failed to give required meal breaks, city officials said.
Two of the employees were shorted $4,414.83 and $4,534.56, respectively, according to the city.
Under the terms of the consent decree, the Zavalas must pay $45,477.42 to six victims, Haubert's office said. The payment represents double the amount of money stolen from employees plus interest.
Both men will also serve a year of probation, the maximum allowed by state law, according to the city.
The Zavalas will also hire an independent payroll firm to ensure compliance with wage and hour laws, officials said. In addition, the company must keep payroll records of all employees and independent contractors and make those records available to investigators if further claims are made.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gloria White-Brown ordered the consent decree, which will last five years.
Haubert's office opened a Workers' Rights Prosecution Unit in 2023, and later secured a grant from the California Department of Industrial Relations' Wage Theft Grant Program to assist in prosecutions.
The settlement with the Zavalas is the first of its kind in city history, according to Haubert.
“Wage theft is a serious crime,” he said in a statement. “Some employees are afraid to report theft by employers because they are worried about losing their jobs and they know how hard it is to prosecute. We are going to continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute employers who take from their own employees.”
Editor's note: This story originally misspelled Judge White-Brown's name. We regret the error.
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