South L.A. garment factory agrees to pay overdue overtime to workers, officials say

Workers at an alleged sweatshop in South Los Angeles will receive back pay and overtime, and an independent monitor will scrutinize the factory's activities in a settlement reached Wednesday between the owners and the city attorney’s office.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's office sued the company's owner-operator for allegedly failing to pay employees overtime and maintaining sweatshop conditions in the garment factory.

The settlement will bring long overdue compensation for unpaid overtime to employees and will require an independent monitor at the factory to oversee compliance with workplace laws, city attorneys said.

The owners agreed to pay for an independent monitor, the first time a domestic garment manufacturer has consented to do so, said Asst. City Atty Jim Colbert.

The lawsuit filed in July 2009 alleged that Seventeen Inc. and its predecessor, Q&I Inc., along with their owners and operators, required employees to work 12-hour shifts, sometimes two or three shifts back-to-back, six days a week without overtime pay or rest breaks.

City lawyers claimed the company falsified time and payroll records to conceal the underpayment of employees.

The suit alleged hazardous and unhealthy workplace conditions, including unsanitary bathrooms without working plumbing or clean water, cockroach and rodent infestation and exposure to harmful chemicals and fine fabric dust during the production of garments.

The lawsuit also alleged that access to exits was often blocked by debris, and exits were locked at night, leaving night-shift workers with no way to exit the property in case of emergency.

-- Richard Winton

Comments

[KrissinLA]

ANNNDDD I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the employees were illegal. Legal americans would never put up with this.. And did we take a look into what SS#'s the taxes were being reported to??? What a joke.

[Jagexxx]

Hello, ICE? Please go check out this place of business for illegal immigrants.

That's what we pay you for.