Newport Auto Spa Settled $1.2 Million for Off-the-Clock Car Wash Work: Overtime, On-Site Wait Time, and Break Premiums

Aug 28, 2026

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Slow hours are still hours if the employer will not let you leave. On December 19, 2025, the Labor Commissioner announced a $1.2 million settlement with Newport Auto Spa, Inc., doing business as The Car Spa, a luxury car wash in Newport Beach. DIR News Release 2025-122. The Bureau of Field Enforcement found ticket writers, washers, dryers, and detailers were shorted for all hours worked, including overtime, were required to remain on-site unpaid during slow periods, and were routinely denied uninterrupted meal and rest breaks. Twenty-three employees were in the settlement. Some had been there up to 20 years. Payments to those workers range from $8,500 to $92,800.

What the Law Says

DIR assessed $1.5 million in unpaid wages, penalties, and interest, then resolved the case for $1.2 million. Liable parties named in the release are Newport Auto Spa, Inc., Colin Berger, and Meliora Development, LLC, doing business as Premier 7 Car Wash. Those are DIR’s names and DIR’s dollars. I am not adding a per-hour reconstruction DIR did not publish.

Labor Code section 510 is California’s overtime rule for most hourly work: time-and-a-half after eight hours in a workday and after 40 in a workweek, double time after 12 in a workday. “Hours worked” is time the employer controls. If you must stay on the lot during a lull, that is work. Calling it “waiting for cars” does not make it unpaid.

Labor Code section 512 requires a 30-minute off-duty meal period after five hours. Labor Code section 226.7 requires one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate for each workday a meal or rest period is not provided. Rest periods are in the Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders: ten minutes of paid rest per four hours or major fraction. A break you spend helping customers is not a break.

Labor Code section 1194 lets a worker recover unpaid minimum wage and overtime. Section 226 requires an accurate itemized wage statement. DIR confirmed a pattern of underpayment and a failure to maintain accurate payroll records. Inaccurate time records do not protect the employer. They help the worker.

How to Fight Back, Step by Step

Write the legal name on your stub. For this case it is Newport Auto Spa, Inc. dba The Car Spa, with Colin Berger and Meliora Development, LLC dba Premier 7 Car Wash named as liable. For any other wash, use the name and address on the statement.

Reconstruct the clock the employer did not keep. Start time, end time, unpaid “slow” time you were not free to leave, overtime after eight hours, and every meal or rest that was skipped or interrupted. A notebook or phone log is enough to start. DIR’s investigation found workers expected to work off the clock.

Keep stubs, punch photos, schedules, and texts telling you to wait for the next car. If the stub hours do not match the lot hours, that gap is the claim.

If you worked at The Car Spa / Newport Auto Spa and did not receive a settlement check, call 1-833-LCO-INFO (833-526-4636) and cite DIR News Release 2025-122. Ask whether you are one of the 23. Do not assume the administrator already has you.

For unpaid overtime, on-site wait time, or missed breaks at any California car wash, file a wage claim at dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileWageClaim.htm. DIR’s filing page: three years for minimum wage, overtime, unpaid rest and meal breaks, sick leave, illegal deductions, or unpaid reimbursements. You can file if you are undocumented. Retaliation for filing is illegal.

Common Questions

We were “on call” between cars. Is that unpaid?

Not if you were required to remain on-site. DIR’s Newport Auto Spa release is explicit: workers were required to remain on-site without pay during slow business hours. Time the employer controls is hours worked. Overtime and break premiums stack on those hours. Do not accept “it was a luxury wash, that’s the culture” as a legal theory.

I already cashed a settlement check. Can I still file?

If you are one of the 23 and you signed a release as part of the Labor Commissioner’s settlement, that release may cover the claims in that case. Read what you signed. If you were not in the 23, or you have later unpaid time, file a new wage claim. This post is not a claims-administration portal for The Car Spa fund.

Get the free Wage Theft Recovery Kit at wagetheftkit.com — demand-letter templates, hours worksheets, and DLSE filing checklists. The same kit is at justiceprompt.com. Educational use only — not legal advice.