After the City of Culver City opted to have all 22 lifeguards at the Plunge laid off, the community is responding by holding a rally on May 27, 2025 at 6:30 pm at City Hall, prior to the regularly scheduled City Council meeting.
The need for budget cuts from the Parks and Recreation Department is the center of the plan to replace local employees with an out-of-state contractor. The agenda for the City Council includes a request to approve a contract for $671,940 with USA Pools of California, a division of USA Management, to begin immediately.
While former Plunge staffers were told they could apply to work for the new management, those who applied for their (former) jobs were rejected.
Roiling the waters even more, USA Pools has a history of labor issues including wage theft and safety violations. The company is headquartered in Georgia, and the city of Columbus, Georgia cancelled their contract after an audit found issues with both record keeping and chlorine maintenance of the facilities.
The Attorney General’s office in Massachusetts won $70,000 for employees after investigations of wage theft at a pool in Worcester, Massachusetts. The company was cited for many problems, including forcing employees to work off the clock, failure to keep accurate payroll records and denying sick pay.
Judith Martin-Straw
