Lansdowne laundry service charged with labor law violations

PHILADELPHIA » A federal judge has entered a preliminary injunction against the owners of a Lansdowne laundry service accused of failing to properly pay employees, violating child labor laws and threatening employees with a gun.

The order entered Friday by U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, enjoins Central Laundry Inc., George Rengepes, and James Rengepes from shipping or selling goods across state lines that were produced by child labor and by employees who were not paid proper minimum wage and overtime compensation.

The order also bars Central Laundry, doing business as Olympic Linen and Liberty Laundry, from employing minors in violation of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act; failing to pay employees a minimum wage and withholding compensation owed; failing to pay employees overtime; failing to keep proper records; and threatening or intimidating employees who pursue their rights.

“This rapid enforcement action will ensure that repeat offenders like Central Laundry are quickly held accountable for their lack of compliance, and will help level the playing field for other employers in the industry who pay their employees properly,” said Department of Labor Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III in a release.

Central Laundry provides laundry services for hotel and restaurant operators in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Calls for comment to the business and attorney Robert Haurin were not returned. Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division filed a complaint in federal court last month alleging the company bounced payroll checks between Sept. 8, 2017, and Jan. 13, 2018, and paid some employees in cash at rates below federal minimums established by the FLSA.

George and James Rengepes are also accused of failing to pay “any wages whatsoever” to employees who received checks with insufficient funds, and of brandishing a handgun on two separate occasions when employees asked that they be paid for their work.

Some employees worked between 40 and 60 hours per week, but were never compensated for overtime, and the laundry also employed minors between the ages of 14 and 16 to operate a “napkin machine,” a task prohibited by law, according to the complaint.