Quiksilver Fined $21,800 by State Labor Officials : Regulation: Costa Mesa sportswear manufacturer is penalized for its failure to register as garment maker.

Sportswear maker Quiksilver Inc. was fined $21,800 Tuesday by state labor officials for failing to register as a garment manufacturer, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations.

The Costa Mesa company faces additional penalties of as much as $28,000 for using a contractor that was found to be in violation of labor laws, said Jose Millan, deputy labor commissioner for the state.

Millan said the citation against Quiksilver was highly unusual because virtually all well-known garment manufacturers are registered with the state, as the law requires. “There’s no excuse,” he said.

Dwight Armstrong, an attorney for Quiksilver, said the company previously had been registered, and he provided a license number for 1992. Armstrong, however, said he could not confirm Tuesday whether the company’s registration is current.

A garment manufacturer’s license, which costs $185 a year, must be renewed annually, Millan said.

Quiksilver’s chairman, Robert B. McKnight Jr., said late Tuesday that he was unaware of the state citation.

Armstrong, though, said that the registration citation appeared to be a “paperwork issue--a technical issue with respect to Quiksilver.” The attorney said Quiksilver--a publicly traded company whose revenue exceeded $126 million last year--would contest the fine.

Millan said state labor officials cited Quiksilver on Tuesday afternoon. Earlier in the day, federal and state inspectors raided one of Quiksilver’s contractors, a small garment shop in Garden Grove called Survival.

Millan said labor inspectors confiscated the clothes at Survival, one of about two dozen contractors that sew and finish apparel for Quiksilver. Millan said inspectors found that Survival, which has about 55 employees, kept no payroll records or time cards, and violated laws related to overtime, minimum wage and cash payment to workers.

An employee at Survival--which is registered with the state as a garment contractor--said its owner was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

State labor officials have found that Survival owes workers about $28,000 in overtime and other back wages. Under federal law, Quiksilver may have to pay part or all of the $28,000 because garment manufacturers can be liable for labor abuses by a contractor, labor officials said.

Armstrong, Quiksilver’s attorney, said he was unaware of any labor violations by Survival.

The citation against Quiksilver came a day before U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s scheduled visit to Los Angeles to announce the formation of a new consortium of garment manufacturers to police the industry, which has been marred by labor abuses. Quiksilver is not a member of this self-regulatory consortium.