According to a recent report from the Labor Department, contractors and manufacturers in Southern California have been violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. The survey found that garment workers in Southern California suffered wage losses last year as their employers deliberately and illegally paid them off the books. Some of these employers were paying the garment workers piece-rate wages, which has been illegal in California for over a year. The majority of the affected workers are women, mainly from Mexico and Central America.
See "Garment workers in Southern California, mainly women, have suffered wage losses due to manufacturers' illegal pay practices", Edwin Flores, NBC News, April 5, 2023