Garment Contractor Ordered to Pay Overtime Wages
A Los Angeles garment contractor that specializes in silk-screening T-shirts has been cited for owing more than $56,000 in overtime pay to its workers.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Silkscreen Printing Inc., doing business as Shockwave Creations Inc., did not pay 42 of its workers for overtime accumulated between June 1, 2004, and Feb. 4, 2006. The company also didn’t keep complete pay records for its workers, which included machine operators, painters, sample makers and packers, the Labor Department said.
Its employees averaged a 58-hour workweek but did not get overtime pay, the Labor Department said, even though the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that anyone working more than 40 hours a week in a nonmanagerial or nonexempt position be paid overtime. The company was not fined because this was its first offense, said Roger Gayman, a Labor Department spokesman.
Shockwave Creations is owned by Alex Kang and Hyung Mi Chang, whose company is at 1539 S. Grande Vista.
The investigation into the company was launched after a tip was left on a telephone help line that is part of a program known as EMPLEO, an employment education and outreach effort for Spanish-speaking workers.
“EMPLEO referrals are taken very seriously at the Department of Labor,” said George Friday Jr., a regional administrator of its Wage and Hour Division. “This toll-free help line most often benefits low-wage and immigrant workers, a population vulnerable to unfair labor practices.”
Since the EMPLEO program began July 1, 2004, calls have helped recuperate $4.35 million in back wages for 2,267 employees.
The toll-free EMPLEO number that serves the Los Angeles area is (877) 552-9832. —Deborah Belgum
