Article and photo by Norm Smith All names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals. One of CoFiA's most important and challenging tasks is wage-theft resolution . 2014 was a busy and often successful year. Here is a review of some of these challenges. Wage theft is understandable. Often the contractor who doesn't pay hasn't received payment himself or herself. Finding the contractor is a major challenge, and even if persuaded to pay, he or she may immediately go out of business. One restaurant worker said his boss was named Ramon. Ramon was nowhere to be found, but knowing the restaurant was Indian we were able to locate him--a man named Ramesh. Ramesh claimed the worker left without notice so he withheld the last 6 days of his wages. When we pointed out that the NJ Department of Labor (DOL) does not recognize lack of notice ... Read more