Janitorial company being sued over wage complaints
Local franchise owner feels he was unjustly fired
A Spokane Valley janitor says he doesn’t understand why he’s being sued for failure to pay state-required “prevailing wages.”
State officials are suing Vyacheslav Annenkov along with the Spokane County Library District and the National Maintenance Contractors janitorial service.
The state Department of Labor and Industries lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court says the defendants owe $14,075 in back wages to 16 workers. It says Annenkov did business as Crystal Service.
Annenkov, who doesn’t speak English, views himself as the victim of an unjust firing and, now, a lawsuit.
Speaking through his niece, Tatyana Popova, Annenkov said he was unaware of the lawsuit and didn’t understand it.
“He said it wasn’t 16 people,” Popova said. “He was in charge of one library. It was just a family business.”
Popova said Annenkov and his family “were cleaning really good and they liked their job in the library, and these guys just fired them.”
Annenkov said it took about six months to find other work.
“They had to take loans from friends, and it’s kind of like emotional assault,” Popova said. “I told him and he was like, ‘Really, they’re suing us?’ He got fired for nothing, and they’re suing him.”
Pat Kirby, a Spokane attorney who represents Minneapolis-based National Maintenance Contractors, said he also is puzzled that Annenkov is being sued.
“I don’t know why they picked this guy out,” Kirby said. “I don’t understand that.”
He said Annenkov was one of seven “franchisees” who were responsible for cleaning 10 libraries under National’s contract with the library district. Annenkov had the franchise for the Spokane Valley Library, and didn’t have 16 employees, Kirby said.
Labor and Industries spokesman Xenofon Moniodis said the department’s enforcement action is based on complaints by workers. Annenkov said he did all the work himself, “but there is evidence that is not the case,” Moniodis said.
Details of the complaint against Annenkov or state officials’ findings were not immediately available.
Library district spokeswoman Beth Gillespie said library officials had no knowledge of Annenkov’s role in the district’s janitorial contract.
Gillespie declined to comment on the merits of the state’s lawsuit, citing the advice of attorneys. Kirby, however, said National Maintenance Contractors has done nothing wrong and will defend itself vigorously.
He said the lawsuit, seeking a lien on money the library district withheld from National, is related to an administrative citation in which Labor and Industries seeks $17,000 in civil penalties.
Kirby said his client plans to sue the library district for breach of contract. He said the district illegally withheld money at the direction of state officials.
The Labor and Industries citation, to receive a hearing next month, accuses National Maintenance Contractors of failing to provide payroll records in the library district contract.
Labor and Industries has set prevailing wages in Spokane at $11.90 an hour for basic janitorial work, $12.38 for shampooers and waxers, and $14.18 for window washers.
The department requires government contractors to certify that they paid their employees the state-required minimums. However, Kirby said National has franchisees, not employees.
“They’re not our employees, and we’re not responsible for their compliance with the prevailing wage laws,” Kirby said.
He said National paid its franchisees on the library district contract enough to cover prevailing wages.
It is “common practice” for franchisees to employ their relatives, but “who they decide to hire is their decision,” Kirby said. Under the law, spouses don’t count as employees, he said.
However, Moniodis said other relatives must receive prevailing wages.
Gillespie said the Spokane County Library District awarded a contract to National Maintenance Contractors in March 2007 after competitive bidding.
The district gave National Maintenance a 30-day termination notice, effective in October 2007. Gillespie said the action was based on the company’s failure to provide state certification that it was paying prevailing wages.
American Building Maintenance of Spokane now holds the library janitorial contract.
State records show numerous state and local governments have had contracts with National Maintenance Contractors in recent years.
In Spokane, they include the city of Spokane, the state departments of Licensing and Ecology – and the Department of Labor and Industries.