California entrepreneur refuses submission to agency’s unlawful strong-arm tactics

It took years of grit and red tape for Chris McKenna and his partners to turn a few California car washes into trusted neighborhood fixtures, providing dozens of steady jobs and thousands of spotless cars.

But it only took days for a lone bureaucrat to destroy it all: his businesses, his workers’ jobs, his reputation, and his rights, blindsiding him with nearly $1 million in alleged wage violations before he could even respond.

“We doubled our business, training up and paying our employees well,” he says. “So we were shocked and hurt when we found out the state was coming after us.”

First came the citations and crushing fines from a Deputy Labor Commissioner targeting Rock N Roll Car Wash and Redondo Auto Spa. The very next day, as if on cue, protestors swarmed the Redondo location, waving signs and chanting Chris’s name while news cameras rolled.

“I was still reeling from the citation dropped off the day before,” Chris says. “And then wham! Here are protesters to add extra insult.”

He quickly filed a hearing request to contest the charges. But before scheduling a hearing or presenting a shred of evidence, the Labor Commissioner’s Office went straight after the businesses’ surety bonds, a type of employment insurance all California car washes must carry to operate legally.

The LCO demanded immediate bond payouts of $150,000 for each location. The surety company promptly canceled both bonds, throwing both car washes into crisis. Chris scrambled to find another bond provider, but the agency’s massive claims scared them off and none would take the risk. With no bonds and no legal way to stay open, he had to close and let all his workers go.

Meanwhile, the public-shaming protest was not a coincidence. A labor group called the CLEAN Carwash Campaign staged it to amplify the agency’s accusations, then joined the Labor Commissioner’s Office in a same-day news release celebrating the citations and repeating the unproven claims.

The intimidation didn’t stop there. Still bypassing its duty to hold a hearing and prove any wrongdoing, the LCO skipped ahead to strong-arm tactics, pressing Chris for $750,000 to drop its claims. It’s the agency’s simple but effective playbook: first, shut you down, then shake you down, using your financial desperation to extract a huge payout.

“That a state could come in and railroad you like this—tack you against the wall until you cough up the money they want—is beyond belief,” he says, adding that as a lifelong Californian, the betrayal cuts especially deep. “I’m not a corporate, absentee owner. I’m a Native Son of the Golden West, and that my own government could do this to me is staggering.”

With financial losses topping $6 million and climbing, Chris and his partners sold Rock N Roll Car Wash at a loss to save the other location, which they’re now fighting to reopen. Adding to the injustice, the agency that purportedly stands up for employees left Chris’s workforce jobless, practically overnight.

“Only the government could claim to protect workers by forcing them out of work,” he says.

The Constitution guarantees everyone a fair process before the government can take their livelihood or property. The Labor Commissioner’s Office enforcement scheme tosses aside these basic safeguards, allowing a single deputy commissioner to handle everything from the investigation to the punishment, acting as investigator, prosecutor, and judge rolled into one.

With free representation from Pacific Legal Foundation, Chris is fighting back to restore due process rights and stop the California Labor Commissioner’s Office unconstitutional destruction of livelihoods.

“Imagine being told your only choices are to surrender your small business entirely or pay the government three-quarters of a million dollars just to keep your doors open. That’s not justice—it’s coercion,” explains PLF attorney Allison Daniel. “If an agency can demand money and destroy livelihoods without ever proving its case or allowing the accused to make their case, then due process becomes meaningless. No business owner or worker has any real security.”

As Chris takes on this legal battle, he stresses it’s not just about one car wash, but standing up to a system that punishes honest enterprise and crushes resisters through fear and intimidation.

“These state bureaucrats know most car-wash owners will just pay the money and move on because they don’t want the headache. It’s extortion,” he says. “Well, they finally ran into car-wash owners who don’t have the money—and who are willing to push back and say, ‘No, this isn’t cool.’”

When asked what drives his quest for justice, Chris instantly echoes American founding statesman, Patrick Henry: “Give me liberty or give me death!” he declares. “Winning will be a huge victory for business owners in California and for personal liberty everywhere.”