Apparel Contractors Ordered to Pay Back Wages
Three downtown Los Angeles garment contractors were mandated to pay scores of employees back wages and overtime after an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department.
Some 142 current and former workers will share $202,400 after federal investigators cited the three contractors for not following a federal law that requires all workers to be paid the hourly minimum wage and time and a half when employees put in more than 40 hours a week. The wages were paid for time worked between November 2005 and February 2008.
The three companies cited were: To Me Collections at 2531 S. Main St., owned by Melody Shin of Cerritos, Calif., who owed $130,014 to 103 workers. (Shin also had to pay a $21,388 civil penalty for evidence of willfully evading overtime pay following identical violations in 2004 and 2007); C.A.L. Jeans at 1965 S. Los Angeles St., owned by Noe and Delfina Miranda of Los Angeles, who owed $62,093 in overtime pay to 23 workers; and Rubi Collections at 714 S. Hill St., owned by Gregorion Carreon of Los Angeles, who owed $10,300 in overtime pay to 16 workers.
Clothing manufacturers that contracted with these three small businesses were responsible for paying $170,333 of the overdue wages while the contractors covered the rest.
The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division used the “hot goods” provision, which allows investigators to hold up interstate shipments of clothing produced by the workers who did not receive fair treatment under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
“The Department of Labor is committed to the strong enforcement of labor laws,” said George Friday Jr., regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco. “We want employers to understand that compliance with labor law is mandatory and willful intent to evade overtime is unacceptable.” —Deborah Belgum
