Inside the Labor Department’s $1.1 million recovery for garment workers in Los Angeles

Labor violation complaints remain commonplace today, even in countries like the US, but in an encouraging bit of news, the Department of Labor has recovered $1.1 million in damages and back pay for 165 factory employees at an apparel plant in Los Angeles.

The settlement came after a rigorous federal investigation that found four LA clothing contractors held back overtime wages in violation of labor laws, and then attempted to cover it up.

The contractors “willfully failed to pay overtime wages” for employees who worked an average of 52 hours per week, forged payroll records, and wrote fraudulent checks to conceal their activities, investigators found.

The Labor Department also issued a “hot goods hold” on garments created by the contractors’ workers for I am Beyond LLC, better known by its business name, Beyond Yoga, as per the federal law that prohibits interstate shipments of goods that violate “minimum wage, overtime, or child labor regulations.”

Beyond Yoga agreed to “pay $582,317 in back wages and an equal amount in damages,” as part of its contractors’ legal obligations.

“We cooperated with the US Department of Labor to address the issues raised in their investigation, proactively funding the payment [on behalf of the contractors] of all outstanding overdue wages and adopting enhanced vendor compliance requirements for our supply chain,” a spokesperson for Beyond Yoga said in a statement. “Going forward, Beyond Yoga will continue to explore with the Department of Labor and state authorities further actions the company can take to help support an improved and more compliant apparel sector in the Los Angeles area.”

The million-dollar recovery is not only a significant win for labor rights in the US in general, but also is “the largest settlement to date for garment workers in California,” WWD reported. “This case demonstrates that the Wage and Hour Division will hold to account employers across the supply chain to ensure that workers receive the pay they have earned and the rights they are afforded by the law,” Jessica Looman, DOL wage and hour administrator, said in a statement.

The news comes nearly a year after a Labor Department investigation that surveyed more than 50 garment sewing contractors and manufacturers across Southern California, and found labor violations in 80% of instances. They included paying employees off the books and forging records, and highlighted underpaid workers who made clothing for retailers like Nordstrom and Dillard’s, among others. The department recovered more than $892,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 296 workers.