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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202/219-7317 (ext. 118)
The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $330,595 in back
wages for 1,233 garment workers during the last three months of 1997, according
to the department's Garment Enforcement Report released today.
From October 1 to December 31, 1997, the department's Wage
and Hour Division conducted 221 investigations, finding minimum wage and
overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 80 cases. In addition,
the department assessed $49,550 in civil money penalties for repeat and willful
violations of minimum wage and overtime laws.
"Our quarterly Garment Enforcement Report indicates that
too many apparel firms are refusing to obey our wage laws and pay workers the
money they deserve," stated U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman. "We will
continue to be unflagging in our vigorous enforcement of the law, and we will
continue to provide consumers, as well as retailers, with information about
garment contractors that violate the law and the manufacturers that do business
with them."
The two largest cases in the report involved New York City
garment contractors, Laura & Sarah Sportswear, Inc. (a.k.a. MSL Sportswear,
Inc.) and MF Fashions. Labor Department investigators uncovered wage violations
of $214,000 with respect to 73 Laura & Sarah workers, and $55,210 for 27 MF
Fashion employees. The department found workers in both shops were not
regularly paid from August through November and had not received correct
overtime pay since May 1997. To date, the department has recovered more than
$92,000 for the Laura & Sarah employees and more than $25,000 for the
workers at MF Fashion.
The department has continued to negotiate with the
contractors and manufacturers to recover the balance of wages owed to the
workers and has also sued one of the manufacturers, Fashion Headquarters, to
block shipment of "hot goods." In February, the department obtained a
preliminary injunction that barred Fashion Headquarters from shipping "hot
goods" and required that it take steps which will help ensure that its
contractors pay the workers.
As a result of these investigations, four national
retailers, Kmart, The Limited, Nordstrom and Wal-Mart, agreed in December to
increase unannounced monitoring of their contractors and to step up their
efforts to ensure that their private label lines are not made in sweatshop
conditions.
The report also includes the results of eight
investigations involving garments produced by Byer, a San Francisco-based
manufacturer. These cases were among a series of investigations of Byer
contractors conducted as part of the department's ongoing evaluation of the
effectiveness of manufacturer compliance monitoring programs. The Wage and Hour
Division's review found that 93 percent of Byer contractors were in compliance
with minimum wage requirements, and 83 percent were in compliance with overtime
requirements.
Nationally, the report lists a total of 56 contractors and
111 manufacturers. California was the state with the most investigations (84)
this quarter; the most investigations with violations found (36); the most back
wages recovered ($147,040); and the most workers receiving back wages (531).
The U.S. Department of Labor began issuing the quarterly
Garment Enforcement Report in May 1996. The report is available to the public
by accessing the U.S. Department of Labor's Internet site at http://www.dol.gov/esa/nosweat/garment9.htm.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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