California sewing contractors stole garment workers’ wages by not paying them overtime, federal officials say.
California sewing contractors stole garment workers’ wages by not paying them overtime, federal officials say. Getty Images/iStockphoto

A group of sewing contractors stole nearly $600,000 in wages meant for garment workers — employees who “receive some of the lowest wages in the country,” federal officials said.

Now, the California employees are owed more than $1 million, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Los Angeles contractor Good Cash LLC and three related entities, owned by Ramon Tecum, Marisela Romero and Joseph Delao, didn’t pay 165 employees overtime, the agency said in a Jan. 3 news release.

They’re also accused of issuing fake checks and altering payroll records.

Former California Deputy Labor Commissioner Conrado Gomez was heavily involved in the Good Cash LLC businesses and is accused of trying to help the owners hide the wage theft, according to officials.

McClatchy News contacted the California Department of Industrial Relations, which employs state labor commissioners, for comment on Jan. 4 and didn’t receive an immediate response. McClatchy News was unable to reach Good Cash LLC, its owners or Gomez for comment.

Gomez, Tecum and Romero interfered with federal investigators by posing as garment employees and shutting off the power of a worksite while officials executed an inspection warrant, the Department of Labor said.

When the trio did so, they ordered employees to leave the facility, according to officials.

COMPANY SUPPLIED BY THE CONTRACTORS AGREES TO PAY UP

Investigators learned the Good Cash LLC contractors supplied apparel for Beyond Yoga, a company headquartered in Los Angeles, officials said.

The Department of Labor banned the shipment of Beyond Yoga apparel made by the contractors’ underpaid employees outside California — because the apparel was considered “hot goods,” according to the agency.

Hot goods are merchandise made “in violation of minimum wage, overtime, or child labor regulations” and cannot be shipped out of state, according to federal law, the release said.

During 40-hour workweeks, 165 people employed by the contractors worked an average of 52 hours each week, but they didn’t receive overtime pay, officials said.

When officials alerted Beyond Yoga to the contractors’ wage violations, the company “agreed to make good on its contractors’ legal obligations,” officials said.

Beyond Yoga has agreed to pay $582,317 in back wages and an equal amount of damages that are owed to the 165 workers, the Department of Labor announced.

McClatchy News contacted Beyond Yoga for comment on Jan. 4 and didn’t receive an immediate response.

Meanwhile, Good Cash LLC and its entities — Good Cash Inc., Premium Quality Apparel LLC, and Premium Quality Apparel Inc. — must pay $200,000 in civil money penalties for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, officials said.

The required payment was ordered by a consent judgment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, according to officials.

“The garment industry employment model involves multiple layers of contractors and sub-contractors and leaves workers vulnerable to wage theft and exploitation,” Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman said in a statement.

“This case demonstrates that the Wage and Hour Division will hold to account employers across the supply chain to ensure that workers receive the pay they have earned and the rights they are afforded by the law,” Looman added.

In 2021, Good Cash LLC contractors were cited for “similar violations,” according to the Department of Labor.

This led to officials recovering $29,413 in back wages for nine workers, officials said.

That same year, officials assessed $3,921 in penalties for the contractors in a different investigation, according to the release.

As a result of the current case, Beyond Yoga will update its code of conduct for garment contractors as part of a compliance agreement, which requires the company to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Department of Labor said.