The New Jersey State AFL-CIO Commends the State Department of Labor for their Strong Enforcement of Misclassification Laws that Prevent Workers from Being Cheated and Exploited
STG Logistics Trucking Company Fined $2.7 Million
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks the Sherrill administration for their continued efforts to strongly enforce the state’s wage and hour laws, including auditing and fining companies that violate the state misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
This week, STG Logistics was found to have misclassified hundreds of truck drivers. These workers will now receive $2.2 million in back wages in addition to the state getting $555,000 in penalties and money to make up for shorting the state’s Unemployment Insurance Fund.
To date, the Department of Labor has assessed $11,223,560.61 in back wages for 13,567 workers.
Most importantly, the settlement with STG Logistics requires them to be in compliance with labor laws in the future to continue to operate. This is important because other companies fined for the same violations continue their anti-labor practices even after being caught and fined.
Similar previous enforcement actions resulted in receiving $1 million from Uber, $19 million from Lyft and $1.5 million from Via (micro-transit operator), all for breaking the state’s misclassification laws. A similar case against Amazon Flex is currently pending.
To see a complete list of companies caught cheating their workers, visit THE WALL: (Workplace Accountability in Labor List) at: Division of Employer Accounts | The WALL (Workplace Accountability in Labor List)
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO is constantly advocating for strong wage and hour enforcement through regulations and legislation that protects workers from this exploitive practice. Recently, regulations were adopted to protect both workers and businesses that play by the rules.
We also are opposing several pieces of legislation that seek to “carve out” certain businesses from the law and we are advocating for bills that make clear workers for certain app. based companies are employees, not independent contractors. Included is A-3315, which would require companies bidding on public contracts in the micro-transit industry to follow the state’s classification laws in order to bid. We urge the legislature to quickly advance this bill when they return from their summer recess.
Again, on behalf of all working people, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks the Sherrill administration, Acting Labor Commissioner Kevin Jarvis and the entire staff of the Department of Labor for their efforts.