30 California Workers Getting $437K in from Food Company

 https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2023/05/17/720934.htm

Officials: 30 California Workers Getting $437K in from Food Company

May 17, 2023

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California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and California Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower on Monday announced the resolution of criminal charges filed against Golden Food Inc in a plea agreement in which the company admitted to a litany of labor violations, including more than $437,000 in stolen wages to be paid back to more than 30 California workers.

Golden Food, a chicken processing business located in South El Monte, entered into a plea agreement after an investigation by the California Department of Insurance and the California Labor Commissioner’s Office.The business, owned by Feng Wen Lam and operated by her husband Wei Wu, was accused of underreporting its payroll to its workers’ compensation insurance carriers by $4,489,390.55 between 2015 and 2021. This resulted in a reported loss of $1,681,138.80 in unpaid insurance premiums to four insurance companies, including the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

CDI received a referral from SCIF, which suspected the business of fraud after comparing the payroll reported during annual audits with the payroll reported to the Employment Development Department. CDI obtained a search warrant for GFI’s building and was able to obtain true payroll records from GFI’s computer, as well as fake tax reporting forms that GFI used to perpetrate its fraud. The investigation led to 43 felony counts of insurance fraud, grand theft, and conspiracy against Lam and Wu.

The LCO’s parallel investigation uncovered wage theft over many years. Employees were forced to clock out for breaks and continue to work, were not paid overtime pay for work in excess of 40 weekly hours, and their pay stubs were falsified. Wu reportedly routinely deducted work hours from employees and falsely counted that pay as a bonus. An audit by LCO found that Lam and Wu failed to pay at least $437,542.56 in labor to their 34 employees based on the minimum legal market value.