Workers paid $1.21 an hour to install Fremont tech company's computers

FREMONT -- Electronics for Imaging paid several employees from India as little as $1.21 an hour to help install computer systems at the company's Fremont headquarters, federal labor officials said Wednesday.

"We are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior from employers," said Susana Blanco, district director of the U.S. Labor Department's wage and hour division in San Francisco.

The incident is a reminder that even amid a labor market that has boomed in recent years in Silicon Valley and other parts of the Bay Area, income inequality and payments of relatively low wages can still be a problem for workers in the region. The workers were paid in Indian rupees.

"It's always amazing that some employers think they can go about with this kind of cheating," said Sylvia Allegretto, a UC Berkeley research economist and co-chair of the university's Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics.

An anonymous tip prompted the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate the case, which resulted in more than $40,000 in back wages paid to the eight employees and a fine of $3,500 for Electronics for Imaging.

"There may be good reasons to bring in foreign employees to work at tech companies, but there's no good reason to pay them so little," said Jon Haveman, chief economist with San Rafael-based Marin Consulting.

The eight employees were paid to help install the company's computer network and systems in connection with the move of the company's headquarters from Foster City to Fremont.

Some employees worked up to 122 hours a week. The unlawful employment began Sept. 8, 2013, and concluded Dec. 21, 2013.

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