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Evidence of Worker Exploitation Stops Work at 110 Job Sites

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2023

TRENTON – In the four years since Governor Murphy expanded the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s (NJDOL) powers in 2019 to halt work on job sites when there is strong evidence of worker exploitation, over 110 stop-work orders have been issued and more than $2.7 million in back wages owed to affected workers, liquidated damages, and penalties have been assessed.

In 2021, Governor Murphy further boosted these powers, permitting stop-work orders to be applied to all work sites of an employer found to be in violation of the law.

“Since the beginning of our Administration, we have been dedicated to respecting, defending, and upholding the rights of all New Jersey workers, who are the lifeblood of our economy,” said Governor Murphy. “These expanded powers have led to over a hundred stop-work orders in just the past few years, advancing our commitment to stronger and fairer worker protections.”

“Having the authority to shut down work as soon as wrongdoing is identified has exponentially strengthened the department’s effectiveness at enforcing our state’s wage and hour laws and protecting workers and law-abiding employers,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “We’ve made it clear: If we find you are cheating workers, we will halt your business operations, and in many cases, you will be told to leave the job by the general contractor or contracting authority.”

“A vast majority of New Jersey employers follow the law and do right by their workers, but NJDOL wants to ensure all businesses are following the law and treating workers fairly,” Asaro-Angelo added. “It’s not just about stopping the violations in progress. There is also an educational component to prevent these issues from happening in the first place.”

NJDOL’s Division of Wage and Hour and Contract Compliance has the authority to immediately halt work at any public or private worksite – both construction and non-construction – when an investigation finds evidence an employer has violated state wage, benefit or tax laws. Examples include: misclassifying employees as independent contractors; not having appropriate workers’ compensation insurance; failing to pay prevailing wage or overtime; or paying workers partially, late, or off the books.

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New York Establishes a Super IC Misclassification-Plus Task Force

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

July 21 2016
Richard J. Reibstein

Yesterday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Executive Order No. 159 expanding the existing Joint Enforcement Task Force on Employee Misclassification into a Joint Enforcement Task Force on Worker Exploitation and Employee Misclassification. Those who follow IC misclassification developments in all 50 states, such as the publishers of this legal blog, were wondering why the annual Task Force Report issued by New York each February 1 for the past eight years had not yet been issued this year. Executive Order No. 159 tells us why – New York has now subsumed IC misclassification into a subset of “worker exploitation.”

Analysis of the New Executive Order

The Executive Order issued in 2007 establishing the Employee Misclassification Task Force required the Task Force to issue an annual report each February 1; this new Executive Order, however, has no such reporting requirement. Nonetheless, simultaneous with the issuance of Executive Order No. 159, the new and expanded Task Force issued its 2016 Report.

The Executive Order recites in its Preamble the reasons for the Governor’s action, and includes the statement that “an increasing number of employers in New York improperly classify individuals they hire as ‘independent contractors,’ even when those workers should be legally classified as ’employees’ . . . .” Neither the Executive Order nor the 2016 Task Force Report, though, provide any empirical data or basis on which the Executive Order based its conclusion that more and more employers in New York are either classifying workers as independent contractors or, more to the point, are misclassifying employees as ICs.

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NY Task Force to Combat Worker Exploitation Gets Boost

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

October 16, 2015

NEW YORK – Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week announced new measures to advance the state’s Task Force to Combat Worker Exploitation, but advocates are concerned it may not be enough.

The measures include funding to coordinate outreach, investigations and prosecutions, and a new anti-retaliation unit for workers who stand up for their rights. According to Anita Halasz, executive director of Long Island Jobs with Justice, many of the workers who will benefit are immigrants.

“We definitely commend the governor for taking this very important step,” she said, “because, oftentimes, immigrant workers are working in the shadows and are unable to represent themselves.”

Worker advocates, however, are concerned that the additional $700,000 in funding is too little to address the problem of worker exploitation statewide.

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