BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

JBL Cal Apparel to pay damages

NORTHRIDGE - A Northridge garment manufacturer has been ordered to pay about $120,000 in back wages and damages to 40 of its workers after an investigation found time cards had been altered and payment records mismanaged.

The U.S. Labor Department found that the owners of JBL Cal Apparel had failed to pay workers $59,787 for overtime hours from 2002 to 2004 and that records were not adequately maintained. The company manufactures women's tops and blouses sold by major retailers nationwide, according to the department.

In addition to the back wages, the owners of JBL Cal Apparel, Louis and Raymond Wang, also must pay another $59,787 in liquidated damages.

Winter funk ends at retail stores

WASHINGTON - Shoppers got back in the groove in March, sending sales up by 0.6 percent for the nation's retailers.

The rebound, reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday, provided further evidence that the economy snapped out of an end-of-year funk and was chugging along at a decent clip in the recently ended January-through-March quarter.

The increase in March came after shoppers took a breather in February, pulling down merchants' sales by 0.8 percent, according to revised figures.

The latest snapshot of retail activity was slightly better than the 0.5 percent gain that economists were forecasting.

4,300 workers to lose Ford jobs

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co., closing plants and cutting jobs in an effort to improve results from its North American auto business, will shutter assembly plants in Norfolk, Va., and St. Paul, Minn., in 2008, officials said Thursday.

The two plants employ about 4,300 hourly and salaried workers.

Ford, in a news release, said the staff reductions in Virginia and Minnesota are part of the 25,000 to 30,000 job cuts announced in January.

GE earnings up to expectations

STAMFORD, Conn. - General Electric Co. said Thursday its first-quarter profit rose 9 percent as strong sales of aircraft engines, locomotives, medical equipment and financial services offset weaknesses in energy and its NBC television network.

Earnings from continuing operations were 39 cents per share, which matched the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

The Fairfield, Conn.-based company said net earnings for the three months ended March 31 were $4.3 billion, or 41 cents per share, compared with $3.96 billion, or 37 cents per share, a year ago.

Total revenue climbed 10 percent to $37.8 billion in the latest quarter from $34.4 billion a year ago.

Forecasts right about McDonald'sOAK BROOK, Ill. - McDonald's Corp. said Thursday it expects to report first-quarter earnings of about 49 cents per share, in line with Wall Street's expectations but down more than 12 percent from a year ago when it recorded a substantial tax gain.

The update came as the world's largest fast-food company announced that comparable sales in March rose 5.3 percent overall and 6.6 percent in U.S. restaurants, marking 35 straight months of gains for worldwide sales.

The company said its quarterly results will reflect a reduction to earnings of 1 cent per share from a weak dollar, a charge of 5 cents related to store actions and a 4-cent gain from the initial public offering of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

$3 billion charge to hit GM books

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. said Thursday that it could take a charge of as much as $3 billion in the first quarter for payments it needs to make to a new health fund for retired workers, according to a filing with federal regulators.

Under a settlement with the United Auto Workers that was approved by a federal judge on March 31, U.S. hourly retirees will pay more for their health care, and active workers and GM will contribute to a fund to help pay health costs.

GM said it has agreed to pay $1 billion each year in 2006, 2007 and 2011.

GM said it is talking with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about how to account for the payments. It may take a $1 billion charge in the first quarter, or it may lump the payments together and take a $3 billion charge, the company said.