Massachusetts Franchisee Sues Cleaning Firm

Lowell man says Coverall made false promises

Coverall North America Inc. was the target of another lawsuit when Pius Awuah of Massachusetts sued it for breach of contract. Mr Awua, an immigrant from Ghana a number of years back, said that he agreed to pay Coverall a franchise fee of $14,000 when promised that the firm would provide him $3,000 a month in commercial cleaning business. The Lowell franchisee said that Coverall provided him with less than $1,300 a month.

Ten other recent immigrants had also filed suit against Coverall in 2005. Awuah's attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan said:

"Coverall targets individuals with limited fluency in English because they are easily victimized by Coverall's misrepresentations and other systemic legal violations.. Even workers who do speak English often cannot understand the highly technical and confusing language in the form franchise agreement."

But there is another curve to this lawsuit. Ms. Liss-Riordan contends that Awuah should be legally considered a Coverall employee and not an independent contractor as the franchise agreement stipulates. A recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in December states that employees should receive the state's minimum wage that was $6.75 when Mr. Awuah worked. Compensation should include workman's comp and unemployment insurance.

• Read full article at the Boston Globe