CA: BYD Labor Issues Resolved by California Labor Commission, Minimum Wage Dispute Dropped, Technical Fines Reduced by Two-Thirds

BYD is pleased that the decision by the Labor Commissioner Hearing Officer resulted in a reduction by almost two thirds - from $99,245 to $37,803 - in the fines assessed against BYD for good faith technical errors (such as allowing several workers one 20 minute break so they could have breakfast together rather than two 10 minute breaks).

BYD is especially happy that the false charge, unfortunately widely published in local and national media, of payments to five temporary Chinese professionals below California's minimum wage was dropped by the Commissioner before the hearing.

BYD is an American start-up company that has built two factories; an electric bus factory and an energy module factory in Lancaster, Calif., with an administrative office in Los Angeles and already created more than 50 jobs. We expect to double the new jobs to 100 by the end of this year, and doubling again to 200 jobs by 2015. We are proud of our zero-emission electric buses and longer lasting batteries than any other electric or hybrid bus manufacturer. We look forward to continued new jobs for California in years to come.