Justice! Passing along this news from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund... This week, a Manhattan federal judge awarded thirteen Chinatown garment workers over $1.2 million in damages for unpaid minimum wage and overtime pay owed between 2005 to 2010.
The plaintiffs -- thirteen Chinese immigrant garment workers represented by AALDEF -- were employed at the Walker Street Factory six or seven days a week, regularly toiling over 10 to 12 hours a day or even longer when the factory was rushing to complete some garments. The workers were paid by the piece and often did not earn the minimum wage or receive overtime pay.
Beyond the labor law violations, the factory owed these workers over $110,000 in unpaid wages when it closed in October 2010. The two individuals named as defendants, Jun Reng Zhou, the factory boss, and Jin Xian Mei, the factory manager, tried to blame others for failing to pay the workers.
The defendants testified that they were not the boss and manager of the factory, that the real bosses came to the factory at night when no one was there and calculated the wages, and then left the checks and cash for the workers. Like magic fairies. Of course, none of the garment workers had ever seen these imaginary bosses.
Ah yes, the old phantom boss trick. Nice try.
The judge found their testimony "inconsistent and incredible."
More here: NYC Chinatown garment workers win $1.2 million in damages for labor law violations
