Officials Shut Garment Shop, Fine Its Owner : Labor: Operator of M.P. Sportswear in Santa Ana, facing penalties of more than $87,000, says workers were paid by piece.

SANTA ANA — Calling it a case of flagrant abuse in the garment industry, federal and state investigators Thursday closed down a sewing contractor here and fined the owner more than $87,000 for numerous labor law violations.

Investigators alleged that M.P. Sportswear owner Hai Van Vu did not have workers’ compensation, failed to register with the state and deprived some workers of minimum wage and overtime pay. Vu is expected to be cited for some violations by Cal/OSHA, the state’s occupational safety agency.

“This place has about every violation,” said Brian Taverner, a Labor Department official who led the morning raid of M.P. Sportswear.

Labor officials also accused M.P. Sportswear, which is tucked in an industrial warehouse area in Santa Ana, of using forged registration papers to secure work from manufacturers.

Vu, 32, said in an interview that he was unaware of whether the company carried workers’ compensation and that he was about to register with the state, which is mandated for all garment manufacturers and contractors.

Vu said he was unsure what his 50 workers earned because they were paid by the piece. He showed check stubs that indicated some workers received $4.25 an hour, the minimum wage. Most of Vu’s workers are Latino, and some of them do not have immigration papers, the workers acknowledged.

Federal wage officials said that some workers at Vu’s firm told investigators that they actually earned as little as $2 an hour. Officials estimated that, overall, Vu owes workers about $24,000 for unpaid minimum wage and overtime work done in the last few months.

Vu said he sews clothes for half a dozen manufacturers. Labor inspectors said Vu’s biggest customer is Gotcha Sportswear in Irvine, which under federal law faces liability for some of the fines against Vu. Alan Schnapper, Gotcha’s chief operating officer, said he was unaware of M.P. Sportswear and its labor problems.

The raid Thursday was part of a continuing crackdown by federal and state officials on the region’s garment industry, which gained greater notoriety this summer after officials discovered dozens of Thai workers being held in virtual slavery in a sweatshop in El Monte.

Officials said they took the extraordinary action of shutting down the Santa Ana garment shop, as well as imposing stiff fines, because the owner did not have workers’ compensation.

Vu said M.P. Sportswear, which opened six months ago, was his first shop. But labor officials said they suspect Vu previously operated other garment shops under different names at other locations.

One middle-aged woman said she had worked for Vu at three other locations in Orange County over the last five years. She spoke shortly before Thursday’s shutdown, as others toiled under fluorescent lamps in a sweltering shop that was littered with fabric and had unguarded electrical circuits and filthy bathrooms.