The employer won on one look-back point, but plaintiffs just cleared a lower procedural bar
A New Jersey appeals court has confirmed that hourly workers can sue their employer as a group over wages without clearing the usual class-action hurdles.
In a decision approved for publication on June 29, 2026, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey held that workers can bring a "representative action" under two state wage laws without meeting the strict requirements for certifying a class action. Because it is published, the ruling now guides other courts across the state.
The ruling is procedural. The court did not decide whether the worker was actually underpaid - that question returns to the trial court.
The dispute began with a former laborer who worked for a small environmental services contractor from 2006 to 2019, paid at the "D" laborer prevailing rate. He alleges the company shortchanged him in several ways. When he worked both public and private jobs in the same week, he says, he was paid at the lower private rate rather than a properly blended overtime rate. The same happened, he claims, when he worked under different titles, such as laborer and ironworker, in a single week. He also says the company failed to pay him for "off-the-clock" time, including driving equipment to job sites and loading and unloading his truck.
He filed suit in February 2020 under the Wage and Hour Law, the Prevailing Wage Act, and the Earned Sick Leave Law, on his own behalf...
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