At the neighborhood car wash, where your car rides down the rails and gets the wash/rinse/wax/dry job done, and then the guys pull it under the overhang and dry it off / vacuum the inside – do those guys get paid on days that it rains (and there’s presumably no business at all)?
What about when it rains three days in a row, and nobody in their right mind is there, paying $30 to get their car washed? Do those employees get compensated for just sitting around? Get sent home, but still with a days’ pay? Or are they just shit outta luck?
I’d assume if they’re at work and standing around waiting for skies to clear they’re getting paid - but also that on truly rainy days they’re either sent home early or told not to come in at all (and unpaid for time not worked).
There’s probably enough housekeeping/maintenance tasks to keep employees busy for at least a day or two of rainy weather. I’m guessing that places that are prone to long stretches of rainy weather don’t have the sorts of labor-intensive carwashes described by the OP. I don’t recall seeing any non-automated or non-self-serve carwashes when I lived in Seattle.
This area is no stranger to rain or snow, yet Auto Bell’s (they’re the dominant full-serve wash chain around here) website says all locations are open seven days a week, rain or shine, and any temperature.
So, it sounds like on rainy days, they may only staff three or four people. From what I’ve seen as a customer, it’s probably one greeter/order taker, one or two drivers/dryers, and one manager. OTOH, on pleasant weekends, they’ll have closer to a dozen employees. It also sounds like they’ll adjust staffing often, depending on the weather, and I’d expect something along the lines of “It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so don’t plan on coming in” which would avoid them having to pay “waiting” or “reporting time” pay. Then, if it turns out to be a nice day, they probably start calling people and whoever answers the phone and says they can come in gets the shift.
Coming from Los Angeles I can assure you that labor laws are not at the front of the mind of many car wash owners and most employees don’t get paid hourly wages at all. It’s not as bad as it used to be but there were many instances of washers and such working for tips alone
It depends how the pay scale is structure. California has somewhat different laws than the rest of the nation. Usually they are more favorable to the employee.
They could be paid a straight wage plus tips or if they are commissioned, then all that happens is their weekly pay must not fall below, minimum wage.
So lets say minimum was $8/hr and they get $4.00 plus commission on cars washed. If they have a rainy week and their pay falls below minimum wage, then the company would have to make it up so it is at least minimum wage.
Usually companies like that, that are on the up and up, will find things for the employees to do. Such as clean or even just to hang out. After all if they are hanging out in front, they are getting the place noticed and maybe someone will come in.
On the other hand the company may pull something like, “OK we’re slow punch out but don’t go far.” This is not legal. A company can ASK that you do that, but cannot require you stay. If they require it, they must pay you.
Of course the hitch is, if you ask someone to punch out and not go far, and they leave, typically the next week they get their hours cut. Which of course is perfectly legal.
