California company imported Indian workers, paid them $1.21 an hour
Eight workers from India were paid as little as $1.21 an hour by a tech
company in Fremont, Calif., over several months in late 2013, according to
the U.S. Department of Labor, as reported by the Associated Press.
As a result the company, Electronics for Imaging, which specializes in
printing technology, agreed to pay $43,000 in back wages and government
penalties. Electronics for Imaging, or EFI, said in a prepared statement
that it “unintentionally overlooked” U.S. labor law and has "taken steps
to ensure that this type of administrative error does not reoccur."
The workers were transferred from Bangalore, India, to help the company move
into a new headquarters building. They logged as many as 122 hours a week
without overtime with some earning as little as $1.21 an hour. California’s
minimum wage at the time was $8 an hour.
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