-News Release- TRENTON – The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the U.S Department of Labor pledged a historic new level of cooperation to protect New Jersey’s economy by signing an agreement Friday to work together to end illegal employee misclassification. By misclassifying workers as independent contractors – workers who file 1099s,…Read More…

The California Department of Industrial Relations announced Tuesday that the state’s Labor Commissioner’s Office has issued wage theft violation citations in the amount of $1.9 million to Fullerton, California-based Fullerton Pacific Interiors for failure to fully pay 476 employees on 26 southern California construction projects from August 2014 to June 2016. Investigators found that Fullerton…Read More…

For years, various reports have indicated that the contract workforce is growing rapidly in the U.S. On Thursday, the Labor Department poured a bucket of cold water on that notion. It released a report showing contract workers make up a slightly smaller share of the workforce than the last time the survey was done 13…Read More…

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TOMS RIVER – A Little Egg Harbor couple admitted Tuesday to stealing more than $1.4 million from more than 20 victims of superstorm Sandy who hired them to fix their homes. They used the money to gamble at seven Atlantic City casinos and buy a $17,000 diamond ring and other luxury goods, all the while…Read More…

A construction worker who suffered spinal injuries after a fall at a building under construction settled his Middlesex County suit, Pinho v. Meridia Metro Hackensack, for $1.265 million on March 21.Read More…

WEST MILFORD — A local roofing contractor has been fined more than $221,000 by federal officials for allegedly exposing employees to dangerous falls and asbestos while performing residential demolition work in the county. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the fine for the Hewitt-based contractor, John Prevete Framing LLC, on…Read More…

The president’s administration may be reluctant to “shame” contractors, but it doesn’t seem unwilling to levy big fines. During the Obama administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration press releases that accompanied safety violation citations and notices of proposed fines were often of the “shaming” variety, according to Edwin G. Foulke Jr., former assistant secretary of…Read More…

After his brother died falling off the roof of a North Nashville home under construction, Hermenegildo Dominguez heard nothing from the roofing subcontractor. He heard nothing from the general contractor. Nothing from an insurance company. Typically, workers’ compensation would have covered $10,000 of funeral expenses, but Alfonso Dominguez, 60, was essentially off the books. It…Read More…

► A loophole in the law allows convicted felons to receive state approval to do home improvement work ► A number of Sandy-affected homeowners who believed the state had done background checks on contractors hired a man who had defrauded others across the nation ► The convicted fraudster ripped off two dozen homeowners and employees…Read More…