Labor Code Violations

God himself pulled the needle out of Sonny Arguinzoni's arm, or so the story goes. Grateful, the high school dropout, part-time purse snatcher and hope-to-die heroin addict repaid the miracle with one of his own. From an apartment in a Boyle Heights housing project, Arguinzoni started a Christian ministry. He called it Victory Outreach International and became Pastor Sonny to a flock that over three decades has swelled to 30,000.

Low-wage workers in the Los Angeles area are even more likely than their counterparts in New York and Chicago to suffer violations of minimum wage, overtime and other labor laws, according to a new UCLA study being released today. The study found that almost nine out of 10 low-wage workers surveyed in Los Angeles County had recently experienced some form of pay-related workplace violation, or "wage theft." Almost one in three reported being paid less than the minimum wage and nearly 80% said they had not received legally mandated overtime.

A task force of vice officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and investigators from the California Labor Board and state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has closed six Pacoima bars over wage and labor code violations. The undercover crackdown, which took place from 8 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday, was part of an ongoing police effort to curb drunk driving in the Pacoima area, Sgt. William Thomas said.

Pablo Nuñez, a carpenter by trade, says he is accustomed to working 10-hour shifts, sometimes six days a week, on home-building sites throughout Southern California. But legally mandated overtime pay was almost as unheard of at job sites, he says, as visits from labor inspectors. "The only person getting overtime might be the brother of the foreman," Nuñez said. The Corona resident is among 85 residential construction workers from California, Nevada and Arizona who will share $242,301 in unpaid wages after settling a federal lawsuit last month against a major home-builder, Boise, Idaho-based Building Materials Holding Corp.

Following a weekend raid that drew some cheers from neighbors, state and local authorities are considering a host of charges against the owner and employees of the Showgirls nightclub, including allegations of lewd conduct and liquor law violations. The dozen or so city, county and state officials who swooped into the Reseda Boulevard nightclub last weekend found a number of illegal activities at the bar, authorities said. The bar was closed down Friday night, they said.

The district attorney's office Friday charged an employee of the prime contractor on Los Angeles' Metro Rail subway project with state labor code violations in connection with last year's death of a worker on the multibillion-dollar construction job. In an action said to be unrelated to a county grand jury probe of the subway, the district attorney filed a misdemeanor complaint against Robert Carlysle Anderson, 59, of North Hollywood.

A workers' advocacy group filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday against the popular teen clothing retailer Forever 21 Inc., alleging it engaged in unfair labor practices by systematically contracting work out to sweatshops. The lawsuit by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center named 19 workers who allegedly sewed, ironed or packed Forever 21 clothing six days a week, sometimes 12 hours a day, for far less than the minimum wage.

At a rally in Los Angeles, union and Democratic Party proponents of a bill to crack down on labor code violations in the garment industry Friday called on Gov. George Deukmejian to sign the legislation. A bill by Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) would make garment manufacturers liable for underpaid wages, unsafe working conditions or other labor violations committed by sewing subcontractors who are hired by manufacturers. Deukmejian has until Aug.

The owners of an Antelope Valley fast-food chain face criminal charges for violation of state workers' compensation laws in two counties. The local Los Angeles County district attorney's office filed two misdemeanor charges Friday against Taco Tec owners Armando Sanchez, Estrella Sanchez and Pat Stewart for failing to provide workers' comp insurance for employees at two restaurants in Lancaster. An arraignment is set for June 25.

Defense attorneys for nine companies charged in last year's fatal fire at the First Interstate Bank building said Wednesday they will try to get the case dismissed before an arraignment can be scheduled. The defense lawyers said they will argue next month that the actions prosecutors accuse their clients of committing do not constitute a crime. The lawyers appeared in Municipal Court on Wednesday for arraignment in the case but obtained a postponement at least until after they argue their dismissal motion July 26. The nine companies, including First Interstate Bank of California, were charged with 12 misdemeanors last month in connection with the May 4, 1988, fire at the bank building in downtown Los Angeles.

The Justice Department has launched a preliminary investigation into whether some of the nation's largest technology companies violated antitrust laws by negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another's employees, according to two people with knowledge of the review. The probe is focused on search engine giant Google Inc., rival Yahoo Inc., iPhone maker Apple Inc., biotech firm Genentech Inc.

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo filed criminal charges against the owners and a manager of four Los Angeles carwashes, accusing them of failure to pay proper wages or allow breaks. Delgadillo also charged the manager with brandishing a club and machete to threaten workers attempting to organize a union. Owners Benny and Nissan Pirian and manager Manuel Reyes were charged with 172 counts of violating criminal and labor laws for their treatment of workers at Hollywood Five Star Car Wash in Northridge, Vermont Hand Wash in Los Feliz and Celebrity Car Wash and Hollywood Car Wash in Hollywood.

A kosher meatpacking plant that was the site of one of the nation's largest immigration raids was fined nearly $10 million over accusations that it violated state labor laws. Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil assessed the civil penalties against Agriprocessors in Postville for what he called repeated violations of wage laws from January 2006 to June 2008. The fines are the latest trouble for Agriprocessors since the raid in which 389 people were arrested. In September, the plant owner and managers were charged with 9,311 misdemeanors alleging they illegally hired minors and let children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment.

For two decades, Ziba Beauty salons have brought the ancient Indian techniques of eyebrow threading and henna tattoos to a clientele that has included Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Salma Hayek and Naomi Campbell. Ziba Chief Executive Sumita Batra, 39, and her staff have styled models for Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines and TV shows "America's Next Top Model" and "Extreme Makeover."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s hourly employees in Delaware, South Dakota, Nevada and Alaska can't pursue group lawsuits claiming that the company denied rest breaks and manipulated timecards to "shave" their pay, a judge ruled. The workers, whose suits were combined in federal court in Las Vegas, failed to prove that common issues predominated, ruling out class-action treatment, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro said. The lawsuits were among 35 combined in federal court alleging that Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., violated wage and hour laws.

State officials are shutting down a San Joaquin Valley farm labor contractor that hired a pregnant teen who died while pruning grapes last month. Authorities suspect 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died because Merced Farm Labor denied her proper access to shade and water even as she worked in 100-degree heat. The California Department of Industrial Relations issued the stop-work order Thursday.

For two decades, Ziba Beauty salons have brought the ancient Indian techniques of eyebrow threading and henna tattoos to a clientele that has included Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Salma Hayek and Naomi Campbell. Ziba Chief Executive Sumita Batra, 39, and her staff have styled models for Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines and TV shows "America's Next Top Model" and "Extreme Makeover."

Authorities on Thursday charged Kaiser International Corp. of San Pedro with causing the death of a dockworker last year by violating six state workplace safety regulations. The criminal charges, filed by city and county prosecutors, came almost a year to the day after longshoreman Jimmie Garcia Magallanez, who had worked on the docks for 35 years, was struck and killed by a railroad boxcar at Kaiser's coal-loading facility. Kaiser has denied any negligence in the case.

State labor inspectors shut down five downtown wooden-pallet manufacturers Tuesday, citing them for numerous wage and safety violations. The manufacturers, often set up on vacant lots, were operating without workers' compensation insurance, said Bob Jones, deputy secretary of the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Manufacturers also were paying in cash at levels well below the minimum wage and with no overtime, Jones said. In the worst example, Sonora Pallets on East 10th Street was found to be paying seven employees $350 each for a six-day workweek, at 12 hours a day, he said.

Two of the nation's largest unions formally announced a campaign to organize Southern California's 18,000 carwash workers and offered consumers recommendations on how to avoid carwashes that violate minimum wage laws. "We will do whatever it takes to clean up the carwash industry," said Jon Hiatt, general counsel for the AFL-CIO, which launched the campaign with the United Steelworkers.