so this is a large Statewide case was prompted when our wage investigators received a complaint from a Boston Market worker in Mercer County the next time you visit Boston Market you might not be greeted by employees instead you might see these red stop work order signs that's because on August 14th the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development ordered more than two dozen Boston Market locations in Jersey to close after an internal investigation found that the rotisserie chicken giant amassed more than 2.5 million dollars in back damages fees and penalties including more than six hundred thousand dollars in back wages owed to 314 workers I Still Standing just with three dozen additional workers have come forward this Boston Market here in East Orange is just one of 27 throughout the state that has now been ordered to stop operating due to multiple violations to workers rights and now the Department of Labor says it's all in an effort to stop future violations with the stop work order process which was approved by Governor Murphy back in 2018 there is an expedited appeal process so the owners have the right to appeal the stop work order and we need to give them a hearing within seven days but importantly as part of the stop work order law workers will be paid are due to be paid for up to 10 days during any stop work order Boston Market operates all across the U.S all across the map you can go anywhere and you walk in and it's the same store it's the same aesthetic the same food the same menu maybe a little local variations but the thing that's different from state to state is that we have different Departments of Labor with different labor laws in place so here in New Jersey we actually have some pretty strong labor protections to protect workers rights so a company like that needs to be very mindful of what the different laws are in place when they're operating uh franchises in different locations Todd Vashon is an assistant professor of Department of Labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University but Sean says the investigation could in turn hold other big franchises accountable in the future it's a big deal to see this happen um but I think that it's a lot more common and widespread than we realize right so this is really bringing it to light and having some charges in place but I'm sure there's violations like this happening all across the labor market with various other companies and it's um it's encouraging for working people to see that there actually are charges being filed and that an employer is being held to account and being forced to comply with the law we reached out to Boston Market but they didn't immediately respond to our request for comment The Dol says the ultimate goal is to protect all businesses whether it be a small mom and pop on Main Street or a large corporate multinational on Wall Street for NJ Spotlight News I'm Raven Raven Santana