Wage claims quadruple under sweatshop law-AP State News Wire by Laura Wides.
It's amazing that the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) reports about our inefficiencies, and the DLSE is still speechless! Dean Fryer, spokesman for the DLSE, said that his office would not comment until officials had read the report. I'm not sure how long it takes DLSE officials to read a report, but I can bet it takes less than two days. Two days ago, Laura's story about the APALC's report hit the presses.
The $24 billion flowing into the Los Angeles garment industry is the largest in the nation. What does the DLSE do about it? They suspended the attorney who led garment enforcement actions against the violators, and they suspended the Deputy Labor Commissioner who investigated the garment businesses that led to the now-suspended DLSE attorney enforcing such actions.
DLSE citations stay within their coffers; it's more money for the DLSE to play with since garment investigative funding comes from Assembly Bill 633. APALC's report fell short on several different fronts: it did not discuss the quality of the investigators assigned to garment enforcement, it didn't discuss the citation money that was never collected & never paid (thus the citation 'disappears' after the 1-year statute expires), Yeah, the state can issue a theoretical billion dollars in penalties, but how much of those penalties were paid? How many citations had to go to Nance Steffen's Collection Unit for judgement, and how many of those got paid via the collection and judgement? Want to know more? Request a Public Records Act (PRA) and mail it to: Thomas Grogan-Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, PO Box 420603; San Francisco, CA 94142. Specifically, you'll request the garment citation amounts, citation types [M/W, O/T, Reg., WCI, Child, Cash Pay] and the citation dispositions (dismissed at hearing, sent to collection, filed as judgement-money collected?).
The truth be told that if this is not a priority for the Governator, then the LWDA (who repeatedly kicks the DLSE into action) could care less. Remember, this is the same agency that tried to strip workers of their rights in meal & rest periods while concurrently trying to limit the liability of those companies that cannot help but violate state labor laws.
The $24 billion flowing into the Los Angeles garment industry is the largest in the nation. What does the DLSE do about it? They suspended the attorney who led garment enforcement actions against the violators, and they suspended the Deputy Labor Commissioner who investigated the garment businesses that led to the now-suspended DLSE attorney enforcing such actions.
DLSE citations stay within their coffers; it's more money for the DLSE to play with since garment investigative funding comes from Assembly Bill 633. APALC's report fell short on several different fronts: it did not discuss the quality of the investigators assigned to garment enforcement, it didn't discuss the citation money that was never collected & never paid (thus the citation 'disappears' after the 1-year statute expires), Yeah, the state can issue a theoretical billion dollars in penalties, but how much of those penalties were paid? How many citations had to go to Nance Steffen's Collection Unit for judgement, and how many of those got paid via the collection and judgement? Want to know more? Request a Public Records Act (PRA) and mail it to: Thomas Grogan-Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, PO Box 420603; San Francisco, CA 94142. Specifically, you'll request the garment citation amounts, citation types [M/W, O/T, Reg., WCI, Child, Cash Pay] and the citation dispositions (dismissed at hearing, sent to collection, filed as judgement-money collected?).
The truth be told that if this is not a priority for the Governator, then the LWDA (who repeatedly kicks the DLSE into action) could care less. Remember, this is the same agency that tried to strip workers of their rights in meal & rest periods while concurrently trying to limit the liability of those companies that cannot help but violate state labor laws.
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