Egg Donors, Car Washes, and Marcos Villatoro
CAR WASH STORY UPDATE: Victory for the Little Guy!
A major development in our story since it first aired last December. The Pirian brothers, Benny and Nissan, will be spending a year behind bars. They are the owners of four car washes. They faced 172 counts of criminal and labor law violations. On August 16th they were sentenced to a year in jail, plus a year probation, plus payment of back wages to former employees who brought the suit against them. The brothers didn't actually plead guilty. They pled "no contest" to six criminal charges. The real victory is for the workers and the organizers of the car wash campaign. Maybe the Pirian's jail sentence will send a signal to other car wash owners who refuse to pay minimum wage, or make their employees work for tips only. - Val Zavala