California Apparel News

A downtown Los Angeles apparel contractor who changed his company’s name to avoid past fines has been hit with a $282,582 citation, state officials said.

Yeong Sil Kim, manager and owner of 5 Plus 2 Inc. at 1240 S. Main St., suite 304, was cited for not paying minimum wage and overtime pay following a May 28 inspection of his facility, where women’s blouses were made under the Benefit label.

During the inspection, it was determined that Kim was also the owner of Bultina Fashion Inc., which two years ago had been fined $26,750 for labor violations. Those fines were never paid, state inspectors said, and Kim did not respond to a request about payments owed his employees. Shortly after, Bultina moved from its location at 407 E. Pico Blvd., inspectors said.

A year later, in 2012, an inspector for the state Labor Commissioner was interviewing employees at 5 Plus 2. Although the owner of 5 Plus 2 was listed as So Hye Park, the employees said they worked for Bultina and Yeong Sil Kim.

The investigation found that Kim, not Park, was controlling the business operations, where employees were getting paid piecemeal and in cash. There were no time cards or records to verify hours worked and wages received.

So the company was fined $18,900. 5 Plus 2 filed appealed, but Kim did not appear at the appeals hearing. Citations were referred to a collection agency.

Later, another inspection took place at 5 Plus 2, where 150 articles of clothing were confiscated for being made by a company that was not registered with the Labor Commissioner’s office.

In 2012, the Labor Commissioner’s office, which is part of the state Department of Industrial Relations, issued $6.2 million in fines and penalties for violations of the state’s minimum wage and overtime-pay laws.