Shop Will Pay 2 Workers Back Wages

As part of a court settlement, a Santa Ana sewing shop has agreed to pay two workers $4,522 in back wages and overtime for violating the minimum-wage law, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday.

Tony Tram of Tony’s Fashions was ordered by the court to pay Mamel Matias and Saul Lopez back pay and overtime for work done between November, 1992, and February this year. Instead of getting minimum wage, workers were paid a piece rate for assembling women’s dresses, shirts and blouses.

“They were getting paid for each garment, and that’s OK as long as it equals minimum wage,” said Joe Kirkbride, a Labor Department spokesman in San Francisco. “In this case, it didn’t. We’ve been cracking down on sewing shops for a couple of years now.”