First lawsuit by a union under New Jersey’s “up-the-chain” wage theft law aims to hold contractors and developers accountable for unpaid construction workers
The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) today announced the filing of a landmark lawsuit seeking more than $2 million in unpaid wages and liquidated damages on behalf of construction workers who helped build two major Jersey City developments but were never paid for weeks of their work. The lawsuit marks the first known action filed by a labor union under New Jersey’s up-the-chain liability statute, a groundbreaking law designed to ensure that workers can recover wages even when their direct employer is unable or unwilling to pay.
The lawsuit was filed today in Superior Court by LIUNA Local 3 and Laborers’Eastern Region Organizing Fund (LEROF). It names general contractor AJD Construction and subcontractor Concrete Rising as sharing liability for unpaid wages for work performed on Kushner Companies’ One Journal Square project and Namdar Group’s 35 Cottage Street development…