Santa Ana : Garment Maker to Pay Back Wages

The owner of a Santa Ana garment manufacturing firm agreed to pay 11 workers a total of $30,442 in back wages to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal spokesman said Friday.

Dang Thai Tran, owner of Mimi Fashion in Santa Ana, agreed to the settlement without admitting guilt, said Joe Kirkbride, a Labor Department spokesman.

The workers were paid below minimum wage and received money strictly based on “piece rates,” Kirkbride said. That means they got paid by the number of garment pieces finished, which is a legitimate practice if their daily pay at least equals minimum-wage standards, he said.

In addition to wage violations, the government claimed Tran’s employees sometimes worked more than 60 hours a week without fair compensation or overtime. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 requires employees to be paid at least the minimum wage and receive overtime for working more than 40 hours a week.

“Hopefully he’s got the message. The monetary penalty should have taught him that he should not try and circumvent the law,” Kirkbride said.

According to court documents in the case, the alleged violations took place from June, 1987 to February, 1989. Tran, 37, who has owned the women’s wear manufacturing shop on Warner Avenue for about four years, said he has since switched to paying workers by the hour.

Kirkbride said his office is holding Tran to a pay schedule and will keep an eye on the garment company.

“If we find a year from now that they are violating the terms . . . we would go back into court and find him in contempt of a court order, which could mean serious fines,” he said.