Press Release: 5/14/2025

Danvers-Based Cleaning Company Cited Nearly $1 Million For Violating Workers' Rights

 

Citations Include Restitution for Unpaid Wages and Penalties

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

5/13/2025

MEDIA CONTACT

Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary

 Phone

Call Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

 Online

Email Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary at Sabrina.Zafar2@mass.gov

BOSTON — The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced that it has reached a settlement with SJ Services, Inc., a Danvers-based cleaning company, and its President, David Najarian, regarding allegations that the company violated various state employment laws. As part of the settlement, SJ Services has agreed to pay nearly $1 million in citations, including restitution for unpaid wages and penalties.

The AGO found that in violation of Massachusetts’ wage and hour laws, between July 2021 and January 2024, SJ Services failed to make timely payments to workers and failed to pay employees minimum wage, overtime rates for hours worked in excess of forty hours per week, and prevailing wage for cleaning and maintenance work. Additionally, the AGO found that SJ Services failed to maintain accurate employee payroll records.

SJ Services employs approximately 450 workers across the Commonwealth, including many who perform cleaning services in state-owned or occupied buildings. The AGO’s investigation determined that many of the company’s workers were impacted by the alleged violations. 

Massachusetts’ wage and hour laws impose certain requirements pertaining to employee pay and recordkeeping, including requirements related to minimum wage, overtime rates, prevailing wage, timely payments within six days after the end of a pay period, and payments for all time worked. 

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Amy Goyer, Supervising Investigator Jennifer Pak, and Investigators Renato Silva and Carla Marbelt-Rodriguez, all of the AGO’s Fair Labor Division, which is tasked with enforcing the state’s wage and hour, child labor, and other employment laws.

The AGO is committed to protecting the rights of all workers, including immigrant workers, who are disproportionately vulnerable to illegal employment practices, such as wage theft and other harms. The AGO encourages workers and employers to review the AGO’s Advisory on the Rights of Immigrant Workers, The Advisory affirms that all workers, regardless of their immigration status, are entitled to employment protections, including the right to a fair wage, protection from retaliation, classification as an employee, and freedom from sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

In accordance with state and federal law, the AGO works to serve and protect all workers, without regard to immigration status, does not ask about workers’ immigration status, and does not voluntarily provide workers’ personal information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Workers in Massachusetts who believe their workplace rights have been violated are encouraged to file a complaint with the AGO’s Fair Labor Division at mass.gov/ago/fld. For more information about the state’s employment laws, workers may call the AGO’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465 or visit mass.gov/ago/fairlabor for information available in multiple languages.