News Release

New York, NY

U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT RECOVERS MORE THAN $100,000 FOR GARMENT WORKERS IN BROOKLYN'S SUNSET PARK FACTORIES

A U.S. Department of Labor strike force in Brooklyn's Sunset Park garment district found serious violations of the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act resulting in payment of $104,350 in back wages to 203 workers.

The April enforcement action by the department's Wage and Hour Division found violations in eight of the 1 1 shops investigated. In addition to paying the back wages, the eight shops were fined $61,400 for willful violations of the federal law.

'These findings demonstrate the pervasive compliance problems here in this industry. Nearly three-fourths of the shops investigated were in violation,' said Bruce Sullivan, the local Wage and Hour District Director. 'We are targeting our enforcement in the New York City area where we believe the more serious violations occur. For this strike force, we put our investigators to work in the evening when the shops were in production.'

The largest case involved a contractor doing business as MKC, located at 341 39th Street in Brooklyn, where 45 employees were owed $34,000 in unpaid overtime. The contractor, which has now paid the back wages, also was fined $1 5,300 for creating false time records. The employer, rather than the employees, 'clocked in' and 'out' on the employees' time cards which resulted in underreporting of the hours worked and overtime violations. The investigation disclosed further that the dresses and suits in the shop were being produced for a New York City clothing manufacturer, Dawn Joy, with the 'Sheri Martin' label. That manufacturer was selling the dresses to the JC Penney retail chain.

In addition to contacting manufacturers, Wage and Hour determined the destination of the clothing made in violation and contacted the retailers which purchased goods produced in five of the shops. 'We contacted six of the country's largest retailers,' added Sullivan. 'To improve compliance in this industry, it is important that retailers understand the seriousness of the violations and take steps - such as requiring their manufacturers to monitor production shops for compliance - to guarantee that the merchandise they sell is not produced in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act."

The following is a summary of the investigations that disclosed violations and the manufacturers and retailers contacted as a result of the violations:

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