30/08/2020 SB 1399 makes retailers accountable for garment worker pay - Los Angeles Times Lil Nas X performs at Fashion Nova Presents: Party With Cardi at the Hollywood Palladium in May 2019. (Jerritt Clark / Getty Images for Fashion Nova) That provision would capture virtually all the clothing sold at a retailer such as Fashion Nova, advocates say, but only some of the apparel sold by department stores or discount chains that carry myriad merchandise, including outside brands. ADVERTISEMENT “Somebody who buys finished goods who has not had any input into their production is not going to be held liable. Target says, ‘We want to buy 50,000 Nike T-shirts of the L.A. Rams’ — it doesn’t meet the criteria,” Hadl said. Bill advocates say joint liability is crucial in ensuring there are large entities on the hook able to pay wage claims. It would also encourage brands and retailers to pay more to have their clothes made and step up their monitoring of the region’s small subcontractors, which cut, sew and finish garments and are often owned by Korean immigrants. They say monitoring has fallen off over the years. “The workers at the bottom are the ones left holding the bag because the most capitalized and the biggest companies are the ones at the top. At the bottom are the direct employers of the workers who are fly-by-night or disappear or are judgment-proof or transfer ownership to the brother or cousin or uncle or whoever,” said Matthew DeCarolis, another Bet Tzedek attorney. The Garment Worker Center, a bill sponsor that provides services to apparel workers in downtown Los Angeles, has been helping Santa, a 36-year-old undocumented worker, deal with just such a situation. The woman, who asked that her surname not be disclosed because of her immigration status, said she typically worked 65 to 70 hours a week at a factory on East 60th Street in Los Angeles for $300 to $325, less than $5 an hour depending on the week. ADVERTISEMENT https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-08-17/fashion-brands-garment-workers-sb1399-joint-liability-piece-rate 7/13