First-ever Stop-Work Order Deconstructs Operations: Citing wage violations, the NJ Department of Labor shut down a construction site managed by a building restoration 
and rehabilitation company. The action was the first-ever taken by the department under its recently expanded authority, according to an NJDOL announcement.
Digging Deeper: Three Sons Restoration LLC was cited for allegedly failing to pay the prevailing wage, for unpaid and late wages, and for failure to keep accurate, certified payrolls. The company has appealed, and the matter has been referred to the Office of Administrative Law for a formal hearing
Here’s What Happened: On August 22, in a coordinated sweep that involved local law enforcement, NJ DOL investigators issued notices at Maurice Hawk Elementary School in West Windsor, Bayonne Fire House at Engine 6 in Bayonne, and at the company’s Union headquarters.
At a September 4 hearing, a determination was made to lift the Stop Work Order at the Bayonne location; but the order at Maurice Hawk Elementary School was affirmed and remained in effect pending the formal hearing.
The state DOL is stepping up its wage-violation efforts, according to Division of Wage and Hour Compliance Assistant Commissioner Joseph Petrecca. “With these new authorities given to us by Governor Murphy and the Legislature, this administration will continue to fight for our workers using all means necessary, especially when it comes to making sure our workers are being paid properly, and the playing field is level for our employers,” he said. Under a new law, a company may be assessed civil penalties of $5,000 per day for each day it conducts business in violation of a Stop Work Order.
Don’t get steamrolled by the state: Prevailing-wage, record-keeping and other issues can be complex. We will review your company’s unique circumstances to make sure you are in compliance with the latest developments in state and US wage-and-hour regulations. We handle many NJ and US DOL audits. We frequently work with qualified employment attorneys, if necessary in each case. Consult with your legal and accounting advisers to stay on the tight side of the fence.
Overtime Pay
Stiffing on Employee Overtime can Cost Companies Big Time!
The State and US Dept. of Labor (DOL)are increasingly paying attention to wage-and-hour calculations and thus launching more wage and hour exams. 
The Plot Unintentionally or otherwise, a NJ landscaper cut some corners, and recently got raked over by the DOL. Fullerton Grounds Maintenance, a Kenvil-based landscaping service, failed to pay more than $500,000 in OT to its employees, per the NJ Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development’s Division of Wage & Hour Compliance.
The DOL Harvest A 6-month investigation revealed that workers had not been paid $529,898, collectively, in OT for time worked over 40 hours a week. The employer cooperated with the investigation, according to the State, “and agreed to perform a self-audit to calculate the amounts owed to the 362 employees who were paid improperly.”
The NJ DOL investigation also determined that the landscaping company took illegal deductions for uniforms and other items not permitted by the NJ Wage Payment Law.
Another DOL Shopping Spree An employee-generated 2019 NJ DOL audit recovered $133,490 for nine underpaid supermarket workers. A US DOL exam of R&J Supermarket Corp. in Jersey City, revealed OT, minimum wage and recordkeeping violations. For deficient employee records, the employer paid $49,349 in penalties.
A Growing Concern The pace of wage-hour investigations — many of which are triggered by employee complaints, is on the rise. In 2018, the US DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recovered $304 million in back wages. As these NJ audits reflect, once an agency begins to investigate your firm, there’s no telling what it’ll turn up.
More Concern US and State agencies aren’t the only ones chasing after companies.
Employers will confront more wage-hour class action suits as more plaintiff-lawyers take up the charge. There’s been “an on-going migration of skilled plaintiffs’ class action lawyers into the wage and hour litigation space for close to a decade,” according to the Annual Workplace Class Action Report by the Chicago law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP,
An Ounce of Prevention… firms should keep up with the latest developments in State and US wage and hour regulations. They should consult with their legal and accounting advisor regarding any employee classification, overtime or other questions. At Urbach & Avraham, CPAs, we work with many experienced employment attorneys.
Don’t Get Mixed Up Over Mixed-Wage Overtime
In a bid to stay profitable, many businesses are operating with a lean staff. But even with fewer employees, work still needs to get done in a timely manner, so it’s no surprise that some companies are increasingly asking employees to put in more hours. Calculating overtime pay for non-exempt, or hourly workers—who must generally be paid 1.5 times their base hourly pay once they work more than 40 hours in a week—is pretty simple.
An employee may do different tasks at different hourly rates
But what happens if an employee has two or more job titles at the same business, and receives a different base hourly pay for each job? Then things get a little more complicated, but it’s not too tough to determine the wages that are due.
Basically, the employer determines a “blended” overtime rate by using the “weighted averaged” method. The first step is to determine the total gross wages due on a straight-time basis (hours worked at job title “A” times hourly rate, plus hours worked at job title “B” times the “B” hourly rate, and so on). Then take that gross total and divide it by the total number of hours worked to obtain the “regular” blended hourly wage.
Now take that blended “regular” hourly wage and divide it in half to determine the additional “premium” (half-time) rate that’s due to the employee. Finally, add that “premium” rate to the “regular” blended rate, and multiply that by the number of hours worked in excess of 40 hours. Voila, you have the blended overtime premium that’s owed to the employee.
An example
Here’s an example. Let’s assume that William works as an hourly draftsman at $22.00 an hour; but is so talented that he also spends part of each week developing his employer’s Web site, for which he gets $39.00 an hour. Let’s further assume that in a single week, William works for 30 hours as a draftsman, but puts in another 15 hours developing the company’s Web site.
So in this week, William put in a total of 45 hours. He earned $660 (30 hours x $22.00 an hour) for his draftsman’s work, and $585 (15 hours x $39.00 an hour) for his Web development work. We would calculate William’s overtime rate as follows:
30 hours x $22.00 per hour = $660
15 hours x $39.00 per hour = $585
Total gross = $1,245
That total straight-time gross ($1,245.00) is then divided by the total hours worked (45) to calculate the “regular” (straight-time) blended hourly wage, which is equal to $27.67 per hour. Of course, William is still due the additional premium pay (half-time) for the five overtime hours he worked. So the average “blended” straight time hourly rate ($27.67) is divided in half, yielding a half-time rate of $13.83 (rounded to the nearest tenth) per hour.
The 5 overtime hours are multiplied by the “blended” overtime premium of $13.83, to yield a total “premium pay” of $69.17 (if you do the multiplication, the difference is due to rounding), which is added to the original gross amount of $1,245.00, giving us the new gross amount of $1,314.17, which is the amount that must be paid to William for the week.
Both the state and US Department of Labor are paying more attention to wage-and-hour calculations, and an increasing number of wage and hour lawsuits are being filed. To stay on the safe side, be sure to consult with your accounting and/or legal advisor if you have any employee classification, overtime or other questions.