By MARK J. BONAMO AND TOM WIEDMANN
Published – September 8, 2022
NEWARK, NJ — State Department of Labor and Workforce Development officials have posted “Stop-Work Order” signs on the construction site of the new Newark High School of Architecture & Interior Design.
Work at the site appeared to come to a halt Thursday, except for some cleanup work activity. DOL officials said that stop-work orders were issued to the general contractor and subcontractor performing work at 155 Jefferson St., and to the developer of the property, slated to be the site of the district’s Newark High School of Architecture & Design.
Investigators from the DOL’s Division of Wage and Hour and Contract Compliance delivered the stop-work notices to a New York-based general contractor Townhouse Builders Inc., subcontractor Dimension Contractors LLC of Newark, and developer Summit Assets.
In addition, officials said the stop-work orders were issued for workers on-site not being paid the state prevailing wage rate, neither the developer – which had workers at the site – nor the subcontractor is registered to perform public work in New Jersey. Summit Assets was also cited for misclassifying workers as independent contractors. Townhouse Builders was cited for employing non-registered contractors on a prevailing wage job site.
“Our strongest enforcement tool is to stop work immediately on a public construction site when workplace violations are egregious and readily apparent,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “Performing public work is a privilege, not a right, and we will not tolerate abuses to workers or the law.” …
TAPinto Newark first reported that Laborers Eastern Region Organizing Fund, or LEROF—the organizing arm of Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA)—filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development regarding the project, alleging laborers are not being paid prevailing wages as required by law and were working in unsafe conditions.
LEROF Director David Johnson commended the DOL’s decision to issue the stop-work orders.
“We were appalled by what happened [at the site],” Johnson told TAPinto Newark. “We are a union, and we are about educating non-union laborers about their rights. We’re very pleased that after these workers were brought before the Department of Labor to give testimony. It seemed like today, the DOL believed what the workers said, and they acted today.”