Sacramento homeless camp cleanup company sued for labor violations. City cuts ties
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Fourteen former Forensiclean workers filed suit over unpaid wages and breaks.
- Sacramento ended its $4.2 million contract with Forensiclean.
- FS Global won new $6.2M bid partly by reducing costly weekend labor scheduling.
Fourteen people are suing their former employer, Forensiclean, alleging the Sacramento company failed to pay them wages required by state law, overtime, or meal breaks.
The city of Sacramento is now contracting with a different company for camp cleanup, while Sacramento County is still using Forensiclean to handle illegal dumping and camp cleanups. Both the city and county, through their spokespeople, declined comment on the lawsuit.
Forensiclean did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Its webpage states: “Almost half of our staff have purchased their first home since starting with us ... We work hand-in-hand with public health officials, law enforcement, social workers, and local government partners to ensure cleanups are safe, legal, and compassionate.”
Forensiclean did not pay the employees overtime for working more than 40 hours a week, nor did it pay additional compensation for working weekends, which is required in state law, the plaintiffs alleged in the lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court last week. The company also did not provide 30-minute meal breaks for working more than five hours a day, or 10-minute paid rest periods every four hours, according to the lawsuit.
“(Forensiclean) gained an unfair advantage in the marketplace by failing to pay lawful wages that were required of any other legitimate businesses as a requirement to engage in public works in the State of California,” the lawsuit alleged.
The suit seeks damages for unpaid wages, overtime, meal periods and rest breaks, including interest.
Separately, Department of Community Response Director Brian Pedro during a City Council meeting last month said that a local union flagged that the city’s request for proposal for homeless encampment clearing should be classified as a so-called prevailing wage contract, under city and state law. Pedro said the city attorney’s office and state Department of Industrial Relations confirmed the RFP as a prevailing wage issue.
The city then asked companies for bids for a new contract. The city had previously been paying Forensiclean about $4.2 million a year for the service. When it had to submit a rebid with the new labor requirements, the company’s bid went to $10.4 million, Pedro told the council.
The city ultimately selected Sonoma-based FS Global, which had submitted a $9.4 million bid, and negotiated it down to $6.2 million, Pedro said. Part of the decrease is that the new company’s employees will no longer routinely work weekends, which are time-and-a-half or double time, unless called in to do so.
“FS Global stood out in that they’re prevailing wage-savvy,” Pedro said.
FS Global also contracts with Sonoma County, where it is based, but is hiring about 20 employees locally, Pedro said.
Forensiclean, which contracted with the city from spring 2023 to present, employs more than 60 people, has a fleet of 35 service vehicles and three tractors, its website says. In addition to encampment cleanups, it performs hazardous waste cleanup along rail lines and federal land remediation.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 2:44 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story inaccurately summarized a portion of Brian Pedro’s remarks to City Council regarding Forensiclean and prevailing wages.
