A U.S. tech company in Silicon Valley has been fined $43,000 worth of wages and penalties in what labor regulators deemed as acts 'worse than sweatshops.'

Earning about $728 million revenue, a probe on the Electronics for Imaging Inc. revealed that they have grossly underpaid imported workers from India in a special U.S. project.

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This is according to an investigation report revealed last week by the U.S. Department of Labor. The report also revealed several other violations the high-tech company committed.

According to the probe, Electronics for Imaging has neglected to pay eight Indian employees the $8 per hour minimum wage in California and has only given them about $1.21 for their services during the company's three-month-long headquarters transfer from Foster City to Fremont, California.

During the project, the company's imported employees have logged as much as 122 hours of work in a week without overtime pay.

"This is worse than anything that I ever saw in any of those Los Angeles sweatshops," Department of Labor Assistant District Director Michael Eastwood stated explaining that such abuse has been by far the worst he has ever encountered.

According to Eastwood, the case of Electronics for Imaging is even worse than 'sweatshop labor conditions' in the fashion district of Los Angeles in Southern California where foreign workers were forced to work like prisoners in a garment factory.

In its defense, Electronics for Imaging explained that the issue was a mere case of salaries "unintentionally overlooked" and has instead given the foreign workers unspecified bonuses in rupees even while they worked in the U.S.

Though the specialist in printing technology cannot be considered a high-profile tech firm, its labor case served as a reminder of the economic discrimination between American workers and those from less-developed countries.

Other technology workers and engineers live lucrative lives as provided by their hefty salaries amounting to as much as $100,000 while foreign workers from countries, such as Mexico, India, and China, who work the same jobs often get just a measly portion of what is supposedly a regular pay.

TagsUS, california, sweatshop, Department of Labor, Electronics for Imaging Inc., underpaying, workers