7 Painters to Get $20,000 in Back Wages

Seven painters will receive more than $20,000 in back wages from a painting contractor as a result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, the department said Tuesday.

Chong and Young Hong, owners of Hong’s Painting Co. in Garden Grove, agreed to pay the settlement and to comply with minimum wage and overtime laws in the future under a U.S. District Court order.

The Hongs established the 10-employee company after emigrating from South Korea a decade ago, Chong Hong said. She said she doesn’t think the company shortchanged the painters, but she and her husband agreed to the settlement to “get this over with.”

Chong Hong said the problem involved her method of paying workers, rather than any attempt to be unfair. “I always pay my painters on time in good money,” she said.

The painters were paid a flat daily rate, she said, even though they generally worked seven to eight hours a day in winter and nine to 10 hours a day in summer. On an annual basis, she said, the painters earned exactly the pay they were entitled to receive: The shorter winter hours made up for the longer hours in the summer.

Federal law requires that employers pay workers overtime wages whenever they work more than 40 hours a week.

Tino Serrano, a Labor Department spokesman in San Francisco, said the seven painters will divide the back-wage settlement depending on their length of employment.

The complaint arose from a single painter who quit after four months, Chong Hong said. Initially, the Labor Department demanded about $40,000 in back wages, but she said she was able to settle on $20,077. Because the firm is small, Chong Hong said the government agreed to let her pay in monthly installments of $1,000.

Chong Hong said that, as immigrants, she and her husband were unfamiliar with the law and that they will now keep more careful time records. “When people come from another country, the government should give them a chance,” she said.