The Murphy Administration and the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development (NJDOL) have demonstrated a willingness to pursue allegations of wage-hour violations aggressively. On July 8, 2021, Governor Murphy signed three bills into law that further broaden the agency’s power to enforce state wage, benefit, and tax laws.
One of these statutes, the Stop Work Order (SWO) enactment (A-5890) has significantly expanded the State’s wage-hour laws to give the DOL the power to stop an allegedly errant contractor, especially those doing prevailing wage work (or any non-construction employer) from actually doing any more work until the alleged violations are remedied. This power is being utilized in a vigorous manner, making defiance of such a SWO a costly, protracted and time consuming process, which is exactly what contractors and employers in these situations simply cannot afford.
