Beyond Yoga Suppliers Outed in $1 Million Wage Theft Investigation
A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered more than $1 million in back wages and damages for 165 workers in California after a group of garment manufacturers with ties to a former state appointee illegally denied them overtime wages and then tried to conceal it.
Investigators from the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Los Angeles’s Good Cash LLC, and its associated entities, Good Cash Inc., Premium Quality Apparel LLC and Premium Quality Apparel Inc., “willfully” failed to pay overtime wages for hours over 40 in a workweek to employees who toiled an average of 52 hours per week. The contractors also falsified payroll records and issued fake checks to obscure the wage theft, the division said.
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When the contractors were served with a court-authorized investigative inspection warrant, Good Cash LLC’s owners, Ramon Tecum and Marisela Romero (also known as Diana Tecum), along with former California Deputy Labor Commissioner Conrado Gomez, who played a “significant role” across the businesses, “attempted to interfere” by pretending to be workers, shutting off the power to the facility and ordering employees to exit the site.
During the investigation, a “hot goods” hold that prevents the interstate shipment of goods produced in violation of minimum wage, overtime or child labor regulation was enforced on apparel produced by Good Cash LLC’s employees for I Am Beyond LLC, doing business as the activewear brand Beyond Yoga.
When it was informed of the violations, Beyond Yoga, which is also based in Los Angeles, agreed to take responsibility for its suppliers’ legal violations, shelling out $582,317 in back wages, plus an equal amount in damages.
The company, which describes its downward-dog-friendly products as “designed and assembled” in the United States, entered into an “enhanced” compliance agreement with the division, one that includes an updated code of conduct for garment contractors, fully complies with the Fair Labor Standards Act, establishes a monitoring program and directs all suppliers to instruct workers on how they can confidentially file complaints of potential labor violations, including through a dedicated worker hotline.
This is the Department of Labor’s largest settlement to date for California garment workers, it noted. Beyond Yoga did not respond to a request for comment.
“Garment workers are often subject to stringent production requirements and receive some of the lowest wages in the country,” said Wage and Hour administrator Jessica Looman. “The garment industry employment model involves multiple layers of contractors and sub-contractors and leaves workers vulnerable to wage theft and exploitation. 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.”
At the request of the Office of the Solicitor, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a consent judgment requiring the contractors to pay $200,000 in civil money penalties for their violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Good Cash LLC is a repeat offender. In 2021, the division cited Good Cash for similar violations, recovering $29,413 in back wages for nine workers and $3,921 in penalties.
“Employers who steal hard-earned wages from workers who produce their goods may incur penalties that disrupt the operations of their distributors and cause production to fall short of customers’ expectations, as the enforcement of the hot goods provision in this case shows,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “To avoid potential liability, businesses must monitor their supply chains closely to make sure the goods they purchase are made legally.”
