The New Jersey Department Of Labor Has Issued An Assessment Letter Fining My Business For Failing To Pay Wages Owed To My Business’s Employees. What Should My Business Do Now?

If the New Jersey Department of Labor issues an assessment letter fining your business for failing to pay wages owed to your business’s employees, you should retain a New Jersey Employment Lawyer to dispute the assessment letter.

Before we discuss how your business may dispute an assessment letter issued by the New Jersey Department of Labor (also referred to as the “State Department of Labor”) fining your business for failing to pay wages owed to your business’s employees, let’s briefly outline the New Jersey Department of Labor’s investigation process.

When an employee of your business files a wage-and-hour complaint about you, the employer, with the New Jersey Department of Labor, the State Department of Labor opens an investigation of your business.

If the New Jersey Department of Labor is investigating your company, retain a New Jersey Employment Attorney who is familiar with government investigations or audits of employers.

The State Department of Labor may either (i) assign your worker’s complaint to a field investigator or (ii) handle, by mail, your worker’s complaint.  Alternately, (iii) where the amount in controversy is $30,000 or less, the State Department of Labor may schedule your worker’s complaint for a Wage Collection proceeding.

If the New Jersey Department of Labor assigns your worker’s complaint to a field investigator, the investigator will reach out to you, the employer, to make arrangements for an inspection.

Should the State Department of Labor handle, by mail, your worker’s complaint, you, the employer, will receive a copy of the complaint.  You will receive the opportunity to either pay the wages due or explain why the wages are not due.

If the State Department of Labor schedules the complaint for a Wage Collection proceeding, you, the employer, will be notified of the date, time, and place of the summary proceeding. The State Department of Labor’s Wage Collection Division will decide whether to hold the proceeding in person or, instead, by phone.

The New Jersey Department Of Labor May Issue, To Your Business, An Assessment Letter Stating The Wages Due

After investigating your business, the New Jersey Department of Labor may determine (i) that you, the employer, misclassified one or more of your workers as independent contractors and/or (ii) that you, the business, owe wages to one or more of your workers. If the State Department of Labor so determines, it will send to you, the company, an assessment letter of its findings stating the wages, fees, and penalties owed.

Your Company May Dispute The Assessment Letter And Request A Formal Hearing

You, the employer, may disagree with the amount of wages that the New Jersey Department of Labor’s assessment letter finds that you owe, or that you, the business, owe any unpaid wages at all.  If so, you should complete and send back, to the State Department of Labor, the section of the assessment letter requesting a formal hearing.

A New Jersey Department of Labor supervisor will review your case. That supervisor will initially attempt to resolve the case with you, the employer, by telephone. If you (the business) and the supervisor cannot agree, the supervisor will refer your case to the State Department of Labor’s Hearing and Review Unit.

You May Undertake To Resolve Your Case At An Informal Settlement Conference 

The Hearing and Review Unit will schedule an informal settlement conference before a State Department of Labor Hearing and Review Officer. Typically, these informal settlement conferences take place by video conference and extend for up to one hour.

It is essential that your business retain a New Jersey Employment Attorney to represent you at any informal settlement conference before a State Department of Labor Hearing and Review Officer.

The State Department of Labor Hearing and Review Officer is not your friend. Rather, the Hearing and Review Officer is responsible for undertaking to persuade you, the employer, to pay all, or at least a substantial portion, of the wages, fees, and penalties that the State Department of Labor has found that you owe.

In turn, as the employer, it is your task, at the informal settlement conference, to explain the reasons that the State Department of Labor should accept substantially less than full payment of the wages assessed.

You (the employer) and the Hearing and Review Officer may resolve the matter at the informal settlement conference.  Upon any such resolution, you (the company), under the supervision of the New Jersey Department of Labor, pay the agreed-upon monies to your worker(s).  Alternately, you, the employer, pay the agreed-upon monies to the State Department of Labor, which then pays the worker(s) directly.  Eitner way, that is the end of the matter.

Conversely, if, at the informal settlement conference, you (the employer) and the Hearing and Review Officer are unable to resolve your case, then your case is referred to the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law (also referred to in this article as the “State Office of Administrative Law” or the “NJ OAL”).  The NJ OAL will schedule and hold the formal hearing that you (the business) have requested.

It is critical that your company retain a New Jersey Employment Lawyer to represent your company at the formal hearing.

At The Formal Hearing, Your Business Tries Your Case Before An Administrative Law Judge

After the State Office of Administrative Law receives your case, it assigns the case to an Administrative Law Judge (an “ALJ”), who holds the formal hearing and renders a decision.

The formal hearing is a trial-type proceeding in which you (the employer) and the State Department of Labor may each make opening statements, examine and cross-examine witnesses, introduce documents, make oral final arguments, and so forth.  The State Office of Administrative Law is not a court of law.  However, the NJ OAL’s formal hearings take place in a manner resembling a trial in court.

The ALJ renders an initial decision in your company’s case.  Thereafter, the New Jersey Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development issues a final decision.  You, the employer, may appeal the Commissioner’s final decision to New Jersey’s Appellate Division.

It is Essential That Your Company Dispute The New Jersey Department Of Labor’s Assessment Letter In A Timely Fashion

It is crucial that you, the employer, dispute the New Jersey Department of Labor’s assessment letter in a timely fashion.  Failure to do so will result in the State Department of Labor issuing a final order directing your company to pay to the State Department of Labor, within ten days, the wages, fees, and penalties set forth in the assessment letter.

In turn, if you, the employer, do not timely pay, to the New Jersey Department of Labor, the monies directed in the State Department of Labor’s final order, the final order will be recorded on the judgment docket of the New Jersey Superior Court.

Once recorded, the final order will have the same effect as a judgment of the Superior Court.  You, the employer, may only vacate the final order under certain circumstances defined in the New Jersey Court Rules.

If you are an employer in New Jersey and the federal or New Jersey Department of Labor is investigating or auditing your business or the New Jersey Department of Labor has assessed wages owed by your business, call New Jersey Employment Lawyer David S. Rich at (201) 571-1065 today.