NJDOL: Ocean County pizzeria cheated workers out of wages.

Byline: Daniel J. Munoz

Ocean Township eatery Luigi's Pizza paid two former employees a combined $1,027.50 after allegedly cheating them out of wages and subsequently facing a potential shutdown of their establishment, New Jersey labor officials announced Thursday.

One paycheck of $567.50 was given to Long Branch resident Hailey Farina, who alleges that she was never paid for the hours she worked, according to the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The second paycheck of $460 was issued to Wall Township resident Nicholas DeConie, who two years ago worked as a pizza maker but was never paid, the DOL said.

According to labor officials, the owner of Luigi's Pizza "immediately wrote a check for the entire back wage amount," when "faced with the shutdown of his business."

"Our mission all year long is to help workers who are being shortchanged and to protect businesses that play by the rules," Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said in a Thursday statement.

Representatives for the eatery turned down requests for comment when contacted via telephone.

Thursday's announcement comes as the Murphy administration and lawmakers ramp up efforts to clamp down on wage theft, worker abuse, and the practice of businesses misclassifying workers as independent contractors to avoid paying taxes and benefits a practice which costs the state tens of millions of dollars in unpaid employment taxes.

One law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy August and used by the labor department to force the Luigi's Pizza owner's hand allows labor officials to issue a "stop-work order," which essentially bars the...