Jeff Hamilton Industries Settles Claim
Los Angeles-based Jeff Hamilton Industries has settled a claim involving a worker who asserted that the maker of branded sports apparel failed to pay back wages.
On July 23, the manufacturer agreed to pay an unspecified amount that was “significantly” less than what was claimed by the defendant for wages owed, according to the company’s attorney, Jeffrey Gersh of Zimmerman, Rosenfeld, Gersh and Leeds in Beverly Hills, Calif.
In the settlement agreement, Jeff Hamilton Industries, which held an exclusive license for the GUESS? Jeans line for men in the mid-1980s, argued that nothing was owed to the worker for back wages, but it would settle the dispute in an effort to save time and court fees, explained Gersh.
Jeff Hamilton could not be reached for comment at press time.
“All sides wanted to resolve this claim in a timely manner and to save the labor commissioner time as well,” said Joanne Lo, an organizer at the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, who represented Mauro Tapia in a hearing with Labor Commissioner Anne Lee last June.
Tapia, who was employed by Jeff Hamilton Industries and its leasing companies for 10 years before he quit in June, received a separate payment of $9,000 that month from Orange County, Calif.-based Checkmate West, a leasing company.
Initially, Lo estimated that Tapia was owed about $28,826 in damages and overtime wages.
About 206 garment worker claims were filed this year between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to the California Labor Commissioner’s office.
“In my experience there are a lot more valid claims than bogus claims, but I’ve also seen my share of bogus claims,” remarked Gersh.
Additionally, there are two more claims against Jeff Hamilton Industries.
Plaintiffs Martin Lopez Chias and Alejandro Varela filed a claim on April 24 alleging that the company required them to work shifts in excess of 12 hours in a single time period without adequate breaks and neglected to pay for overtime. About $55,000 in combined back wages for overtime work is owed, according to Cassy Stubbs, an attorney at Bet Tzedek Legal Services who is representing Chias and Varela.
Gersh said those cases have not been settled yet. He said he will review their court documents in weeks to come and will “determine how to resolve those cases or go to court,” he said. —Claudia Figueroa
