City Warns Cleaners Against Gender Discrimination

By Jorge Casuso

Feb. 10 -- What’s in a name? If it’s a cotton shirt instead of a similarly cut, but smaller, blouse, about $2 more to launder the woman’s shirt, according to a cleaner randomly called by The Lookout.

It is that sort of pricing discrepancy that prompted the City Attorney's Office Tuesday to send letters to all of Santa Monica’s 51 laundry and dry cleaning businesses advising them about consumer laws protecting women from unfair pricing.

California and local laws make it illegal for businesses to charge a different price for goods or services based on a customer's gender, although different prices may be charged when there is a legitimate difference in the time, difficulty or cost of providing the goods or services, the City Attorneys office said.

“It’s a consumer issue that we have been looking at for a long time,” said Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky, who is in charge of the consumer division.

“It can be a difficult area to police for consumers, because there is a perception that if they (businesses) can justify the difference, then it’s okay,” he said. “There has to be a concrete difference in what the businesses are supposed to do.”

Because many consumers are unaware of the law, the City sent out the letters, which will be followed up with an investigation, without having received any customer complaints, Radinsky said.

“There are a number of these consumer issues that affect everybody and are unfair that people write off as doing business,” he said. “Fortunately there are laws to protect against this.”

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that laundry and dry cleaning businesses charge women more than men for the same service, Radinsky said.

“I think it’s quite common,” he said.

Under California law, all retail dry cleaners and laundries must post in a conspicuous area a price list printed in at least 14-point boldface type outlining their 15 most frequently requested services and provide customers with a complete written price list upon request.

Businesses also must post a notice in a conspicuous place in at least 24-point boldface type that says, “California law prohibits any business establishment from discriminating, with respect to the price charged for services of similar or like kind, against a person’s gender. A complete price list is available upon request.”

Businesses who charge higher prices to one gender, are liable to the customer for punitive damages of a least $4,000 plus attorneys' fees, Radinsky said. They also are subject to criminal prosecution with a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Businesses that violate the price posting rules and fail to correct violations within 30 days of receiving written notice are liable for a civil penalty of $1,000, he said.