Hwang

Respondents Thomas Incho Hwang and Chung Chon Chang were held to answer by a magistrate for unlawfully taking a portion of a workman’s wages, a felony. (Lab. Code, § 1778.) The superior court subsequently set aside the information and dismissed the case. (Pen. Code, § 995.) The People have appealed the order setting aside the information.

There is probable cause to believe respondents deliberately paid their employees far less than the prevailing wage required by law and by their agreement with the contracting public entity. Respondents’ failure to pay employees their legal wages, plus the suspicious circumstances surrounding their payment of the wages, leads to the reasonable inference that respondents took or conspired to take a portion of their workers’ wages. Therefore, respondents were properly held to answer for the section 1778 felony, and the order setting aside the information must be reversed.

Facts

Respondent Thomas Incho Hwang is the owner of Lucky Construction Company (Lucky). Lucky was the successful bidder on 10 public works projects. Respondent Chung Chon Chang is the manager/superintendent of Lucky, and makes hiring decisions and supervises some of the…