Here is our problem. It's the labor laws that need updated. - Abused and Underpaid

According to the US Dept of Labor, we are considered piecework employees.  Please see below from the US Dept of Labor website.

Please note, this is now illegal in the garment industry, and this is why most garment manufacturers are overseas/outsourced.

It is legal as long as the pay the employee receives adds up to at least minimum wage for all the hours they spend working, at any speed, slow or fast, and correctly and incorrectly. 

Some economic experts say that, "An easier way would be to pay minimum wage and then pay a bonus for every piecework done correctly and no bonus for those that have to be discarded or redone. You have to pay minimum wage anyway."

WAGES/INDUSTRIAL HOMEWORK AND PIECEWORK

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), industrial homework (also called "piecework") means the production by any covered person in a home, apartment, or room in a residential establishment, of goods for an employer who permits or authorizes such production, regardless of the source (whether obtained from an employer or elsewhere) of the materials used by the homeworker in producing these items.

The performance of certain types of industrial homework is prohibited under the FLSA unless the employer has obtained prior certification from the Department of Labor. Restrictions apply in the manufacture of knitted outerwear, gloves and mittens, buttons and buckles, handkerchiefs, embroideries, and jewelry, if there are no safety and health hazards. The manufacture of women's apparel (and jewelry under hazardous conditions) is generally prohibited. All individually covered homework is subject to the FLSA's minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping requirements. Employers must provide workers with handbooks to record time, expenses, and pay information.