Labor gives La Mode 15 days to pay wages

The Department of Labor issued on Friday an administrative order resolving the claims of former La Mode Inc. employees against the now defunct garment company.

In a final order, Maya Kara of the Labor Hearing Office, said all the employees were entirely without fault in La Mode’s April 25 closure and therefore, entitled to transfer to new employers.

Those who plan to seek a transfer employer were given until June 13 to have the new employer file a labor permit application on the worker’s behalf.

According to Kara, the workers are free to seek employment within or outside the garment industry. For transfers within the garment industry, the requirement for job vacancy announcement is waived except for the following job classifications: trimmer, packer, security guard, maintenance worker, or office worker.

Individuals who are unwilling or unable to find a new employer within the given 45-day period are entitled to repatriation, Kara said.

She ordered La Mode to shoulder such workers’ repatriation costs. If La Mode fails to do so, its bonding companies would be liable for the expenses.

If the sureties default on the bond, the responsibility will fall on the Commonwealth government. In such an event, La Mode or its sureties will be liable for reimbursing the government.

Further, Kara gave La Mode 15 days to pay employees who do not dispute the amount of unpaid wages, as estimated by the garment company. The estimated amount of unpaid wages the garment company purports to still owe its workers is $340,000.

For those who dispute the amount of wages, individual hearings will be held starting May 16, 2005 at the Department of Labor office in San Antonio. Individual orders with respect to the unpaid wages will be issued upon the conclusion of the hearings.

The bonding companies will be liable for payment, if La Mode fails to settle the workers’ wage claims.

“The Department of Labor shall use its best efforts to access all and any available and appropriate funds to recover employee/complainant’s unpaid wages. All wages recovered by the Department shall be promptly remitted by any reasonable means to employee/complainant,” Kara said.

“However, an uncollected judgment of unpaid wages does not create a right in the employee/complainant to remain in the Commonwealth,” she added.

The Division of Labor, on behalf of La Mode’s employees, opened the compliance agency case on March 7, 2005 alleging that certain La Mode employees, numbering between 276 and 279, had not been paid for at least three pay periods from Dec. 6, 2004 through Jan. 16, 2005.

In a hearing held on April 28 and 29, the department gathered personal and contact information from the workers, and confirmed the amount of their wage claims. The workers were also asked whether they wished to transfer to new employers or return to their country of origin.

In an interview, Labor public information officer Jesse Atoigue reported that there were actually 313 workers employed by La Mode. Over 250 of these workers showed up during the two-day hearing.

Atoigue said Labor was still in the process of compiling data as to how many of the former La Mode workers had gone home, among other things.

Employees who have not received their administrative order may pick it up at the Labor Hearing Office starting this morning.