Garment Plant May Be Closed Over Back Pay
Authorities want to shut down a garment factory that investigators say has not paid almost 200 immigrant workers for more than three months and operates without a license.
Wins of California Inc., San Francisco’s largest clothing factory, owes its employees at least $850,000, according to state and federal investigators.
The factory makes clothes for the Army and Air Force, Kmart, Sears and Wal-Mart, investigators said.
“This is the most egregious failure to pay wages in Northern California history,” said Anne Hipshman, an attorney for the state Department of Industrial Relations.
A federal court last month barred Wins from shipping clothing to customers. Related state court hearings are scheduled for next week.
Wins’ owners, Toha “Jimmy” Quan and his wife, Anna Wong, also own Tomi Inc., a Utah company that reportedly made $1.2 million during the same period.
Wong told investigators they used a “slow pay” system to improve cash flow.
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