State Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to distribute garment workers' back wages

Event
The California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), will distribute nearly $725,000 in back wages owed to 472 employees of former garment contractor MiAngels Apparel, Inc. of Los Angeles.

Date & time

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004
11:30 a.m. -- Remarks by California Labor & Workforce Development Agency Secretary Victoria Bradshaw and DOL Wage and Hour Division Deputy Regional Administrator Gerald Hall
Noon to 8 p.m. -- Check distribution to workers

Address
State of California building, 320 W. 4th St., Los Angeles, auditorium

Background information
Former MiAngels Apparel employees are owed wages for hours worked and not paid between June 5, 2004 and July 16, 2004. Workers were notified by mail and registered for payment of their back wages July 28.

DLSE employees worked in cooperation and partnership with the federal DOL to resolve this case in an unprecedented amount of time, providing much needed financial relief to this group of low wage workers.

The DLSE and DOL also partner in the new EMPLEO (Employment Education Outreach) alliance to educate workers and employers on workplace rights and responsibilities. The EMPLEO toll-free help line (1-877-552-9832), which was established by the alliance, was instrumental in receiving information that assisted the investigation. The alliance includes several federal and state agencies, and local business and community organizations, as well as the Consulates of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the Diocese of San Bernardino