Last February, a chain of gourmet groceries in New York City paid nearly $1.5 million in wages owed to 550 workers. In the same month, the Los Angeles city attorney charged two owners and a manager of several car washes with paying workers a flat daily rate of $35 to $40 for shifts that lasted eight hours or longer. Also this year, a Chicago-area temp agency settled a class-action suit for nearly half a million dollars; when workers accumulated more than 40 hours a week at different client companies, the agency "split" their checks to avoid triggering mandatory overtime pay.