When state labor investigators raided a clothing manufacturer near the Flatiron Building on Tuesday night, they were surprised by what they found.

Dangling on hangers, ready for delivery, were rows of dress uniforms — complete with the familiar insignia, the gold buttons, the deep blue fabric — intended for use for formal occasions by New York City police officers.

Those uniforms, and others destined for hospitals, hotels and a local university, were among roughly 400 pieces of clothing seized by the State Department of Labor, along with the equipment used to produce the clothing. It was the first use, officials said, of a 2006 law that allows the state to seize goods and equipment from garment manufacturers charged with multiple violations of labor standards.

The uniforms were confiscated from a factory at 45 East 20th Street run by the Forest Uniform Corporation. A contractor the company works with, Technical Garment USA, at 251 West 39th Street, is also accused of violating labor laws.

The department said it would release the goods if the companies paid $500,000 in back wages and damages to 16 current and former workers, though an alternative legal settlement might be negotiated.

The state labor commissioner, M. Patricia Smith, said the raid signaled a more aggressive approach to companies that violate minimum-wage and overtime rules, particularly in an industry known for widespread abuses.

According to investigators, Technical Garment had for a time required employees to fill out two sets of time cards: a false set showing a standard Monday-to-Friday schedule of 40 hours of work or less, and real cards detailing workweeks that often stretched 80 hours without a day off.

Eventually the company disposed of the second set, instead tracking the actual hours worked in a notebook kept locked in an office, investigators said.

Employees were coached to lie to labor officials during their routine visits, the department said.

In late 2008, however, an employee approached investigators detailing the true working conditions.

Because the companies had violated other state labor rules more than twice in the past three years, officials were able to make use of the 2006 law. The companies will have a chance to appeal the new citations before the items are auctioned.

Forest Uniform has been one of six companies authorized by the Police Department to produce the dress uniforms, which are worn at funerals and other special occasions, for sale to police officers, who receive a $1,000 annual clothing allowance. The company, which has made the uniforms since 1992, was immediately removed from that list after the police were told of the matter.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said that quality was the main factor in authorizing a supplier.

“That is our primary consideration,” he said. “We are going to leave the other issues to the Department of Labor, which obviously they are addressing today.”

(Source: NY Times)