In those investigations, the Department of Labor has ordered more than $55,000 in back pay in total for more than 300 workers for minimum wage and overtime violations.

The officials said they found minimum wage or overtime violations in 90 percent of the clothing shops inspected in Chinatown.

She cited a Federal survey that found overtime violations at 25 percent of the monitored clothing shops and at 61 percent of the shops that were not monitored.

Federal regulators said the most frequent overtime violations involved the industry's undercounting of the hours worked by chicken catchers, who travel to farms to catch chickens and take them to the plants.

Richard Rumelt, the manager, said the local had no knowledge of extensive overtime violations because the workers had not filed grievances about it.

A federal judge has ordered a Midtown hotel and a businessman to pay $351,0000 in back pay and damages because of overtime violations.

In 2003, Countrywide was the subject of a class-action lawsuit alleging overtime violations.

Labor Department investigators say overtime violations tend to be concentrated in the retail, construction and garment industries.

Daniel H. Rosenhouse, a lawyer with that office, said National Maintenance was under investigation for possible minimum wage and overtime violations involving franchises.

Yet the act contains no provision for civil monetary penalties for record keeping, minimum wage or overtime violations.