L.A. Contractor Fined
A Los Angeles garment maker has been ordered to pay his workers back wages and overtime pay as part of a court settlement.
JNS Apparel Inc., owned by Son Tae Kim, was ordered by a U.S. District Court judge to pay 23 current and former workers $24,514 in back wages, plus interest, for time worked between January 2006 and January 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Payments are scheduled to be made by February 2008.
Six manufacturers for whom JNS made apparel during that time will be contributing $12,394 in back wages as their portion of the items produced. The six manufacturers were not identified by the federal Labor Department.
The judgment in the case of Chao v. JNS Apparel Inc. bars JNS from future violations of the minimum-wage, overtime-pay, recordkeeping and “hot goods” provision of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The “hot goods” provision makes it illegal to ship to other states goods made in violation of the minimum-wage or overtime rules. —Deborah Belgum
