California: Dec. 15, 2000

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has levied more than $270,000 in penalties against 17 Los Angeles garment contractors, charging them with repeated violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act; in a recent compliance survey, the DOL found that 22 of 35 shops in violation of labor laws in 1999 or 1998 were still in violation and owed more than $627,000 in back wages to more than 600 employees.