PARSIPPANY — The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) in January added the names of 10 businesses to its Workplace Accountability in Labor List (The WALL), bringing to 233 the number of employers that have failed to address their outstanding liabilities for violations of wage, benefit or tax laws. Any business whose name appears on The WALL is barred from public contracting with state, county, or local governments until they fully pay their liabilities.
The 10 businesses owe $238,471 in unpaid contributions, penalties, and interest to the Unemployment Compensation Fund and State Disability Benefits Fund and in unpaid wages and penalties to workers and the state. In the third year of the WALL initiative, 233 businesses are posted to The WALL, which collectively owes $23.3 million—directly to their workers or to the state for unpaid taxes or contributions.
No businesses were removed from The WALL in December. To date, NJDOL has recovered $584,022.74 in outstanding liabilities from businesses posted to The WALL or warned their business would be added to The WALL if they did not resolve their outstanding liabilities.
The WALL is a powerful enforcement tool that enables the department to publicly name companies that shortchange their workers and skip required contributions to programs such as unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. The listed companies have failed to resolve their outstanding fines and fees with NJDOL and Treasury.
The initiative was established through bipartisan action (S-4226) in 2020 to combat worker misclassification and exploitation. It gives NJDOL the power to protect fair-minded businesses across the state from employers who undercut their workers to gain a competitive edge.
Posting on The WALL is separate from – and may be in addition to – other accountability measures, such as public contractor debarment and business license suspension or revocation. State, county, municipal, and school procurement officers must cross-reference The WALL before awarding public contracts, as with the debarment list.
Businesses receive letters warning that their company’s name will be posted to The WALL unless they remedy their outstanding liabilities; they are given 20 days from receiving notice to pay in full or challenge their pending placement on The WALL.
The only local company listed on The WALL is:
Trigram Education Partners, LLC
959 Route 46 East, Parsippany, NJ 07054
OSEC’s Docket #: WALL-WH-000026-2023
Violation(s):
•The NJ Wage Payment Law – P.L.1965, c.173 (C.34:11-4.1 et seq.)
•The NJ State Wage and Hour Law – P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.)
Date of Final Judgement/Order: May 21, 2021
Total Liability Owed Under Final Judgement/Order: $187,394.81
According to records from the New Jersey Department of the Treasury, Trigram Education Partners LLC is currently listed as revoked. The company must reinstate its standing with the state to comply with legal and operational requirements.
Further details on the reinstatement process and the reason for the revocation were not immediately available. Businesses in revoked status are typically prohibited from conducting operations until they rectify the issue with the Department of the Treasury.
