Factors Join DOL's Compliance Efforts

The U.S. Department of Labor wants factors to join in its efforts to encourage manufacturers and contractors to comply with federal labor laws.

Mary McKnight, regional garment enforcement coordinator with the DOL’s wage and hour division, launched the program a year ago when she began recommending that local factors ask their apparel-manufacturing clients to sign an “Employer Compliance Program Agreement.”

The agreement describes the Fair Labor Standard Act requirements on minimum wage, overtime pay, record keeping and child labor. A signature on the agreement is a guarantee that the manufacturer will comply with labor laws and institute a monitoring program.

Several factors have agreed to implement the program, including General Business Credit, New Commercial Capital, Hanna Financial, FTC Commercial Corp. and Continental Business Credit.

There’s a clear financial benefit, according to George Friday, the wage and hour division’s regional administrator. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “hot goods” provision, the DOL can seize goods before they are shipped out of state if they are found to have been manufactured by contractors that did not adhere to federal labor laws.