Hotel management firm stole $58,000 from Fresno workers’ wages, city alleges
A hotel management firm stole approximately $58,000 from at least nine Fresno construction workers, according to a civil action filed by city of Fresno officials, marking the first prosecution under a wage theft protection program launched last year.
Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz and District 4 Councilmember Tyler Maxwell said the city filed a wage theft lawsuit Friday against Pinnacle Hospitality and Development, which operates the Holiday Inn at 7191 W Kathryn Ave in northwest Fresno. The company’s CEO, Lakhwinder Singh Brar, and a subcontractor, Juan Moreno, are also named in the lawsuit.
Janz said in a Monday news conference that Pinnacle hired Moreno in 2023 for construction work to be performed at the Holiday Inn. After the city launched its Wage Protection Program last year, nine workers who worked under Moreno named him in complaints filed with the city, he said.
“Common among all complaints is a general disregard for payments,” Janz said. “Each stated that payment of wages was non-existent, sporadic, or a combination of the two.”
The lawsuit against Pinnacle Hospitality also alleges the workers were not allowed to take breaks every day, and charges for food and gas were deducted from their paychecks without their authorization.
“Moreno was instructed to recruit vulnerable, underprivileged workers to perform construction work at the hotel,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants conspired to underpay and/or not pay workers for the work they performed at the hotel with the intent of never fully compensating workers.”
Pinnacle Hospitality did not respond to a request for comment on Monday from The Bee.
The civil case against Pinnacle Hospitality marks Janz’s first use of the city attorney’s new wage theft prosecution power, which the City Council granted the office last year after a state law authorized local prosecutors to pursue these cases. The city then received a $720,000 state grant last June to help it build its Wage Protection Program, which allows workers to file complaints against employers.
The program is also open to undocumented workers, who “have my guarantee that that information will not be used against them or turned over to the federal government,” Janz said.
Fresno officials said in general that the new power would be used on prosecuting the worst cases of wage theft committed by larger employers — not small businesses that make accounting mistakes. Last summer, Janz announced his office was investigating whether the Madera-based Valley Children’s Hospital has committed wage theft at its Fresno locations.
On Monday, Janz would not say how many wage theft complaints his office has received since launching an online complaint portal in August.
“But I can tell you that we are looking at at least 10 or 12 cases as we speak,” Janz said. “In all of those cases, we try to obtain multiple statements from multiple victims. It’s all across different industries.”
Workers ‘paid $50 a day’ at Fresno hotel
The workers performed tile, sheet rock and carpet installation, as well as painting, cleaning and other general labor at Pinnacle Hospitality’s Holiday Inn. Janz said the tile and carpet workers were promised piece-rate pay based on the number of rooms they completed work in. The rest were promised “varying rates of pay, some of which did not meet minimum wage standards,” Janz said his investigation found.
“For example, they were paid $50 a day,” Janz said his investigation found.
He said the laborers worked Monday through Saturday for up to 12 hours a day, but they were not paid overtime wages. All agreements were made orally, there were no written contracts and payments were in cash, Janz added.
When workers asked Moreno about the payments, the subcontractor would tell them it was Pinnacle Hospitality that had not yet provided their wages, Janz said. And when the workers went to Pinnacle Hospitality, the firm would tell them they had already been paid, the city attorney added.
Maxwell, the councilmember, characterized the workers as “individuals in very vulnerable positions.”
“A lot of folks think that they could easily go after these individuals thinking that they could take advantage and exploit them,” Maxwell said. “Sooner or later, we’re going to find out about you. We’re going to do everything within our power to bring you to justice.”
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 1:59 PM.
