CAMDEN, N.J. — A federal judge has refused, at least for now, to hand an automatic court victory to a New Jersey labor union pension fund in a dispute over unpaid retirement contributions.
The lawsuit was filed by the New Jersey Building Laborers’ Statewide Pension Fund against Super LLC, a construction company based in Haledon.
According to the lawsuit, Super LLC previously employed union laborers and was required under union labor contracts to contribute money into the workers’ pension fund.
The pension fund says the company stopped recognizing the union in July 2022 but continued doing the same type of construction work without making pension contributions.
Under federal labor law, that move can trigger what is known as “withdrawal liability,” which is essentially a financial penalty companies may owe when they leave a multi-employer pension plan.
The pension fund calculated that Super LLC owed approximately $55,500.
Court records show the pension fund sent the company a payment schedule in August 2022, but claimed Super LLC never made the required payments. After additional notices were allegedly ignored, the pension fund filed suit in federal court.
Because Super LLC did not respond to the lawsuit, the pension fund asked the judge for a default judgment, which would have allowed the fund to win the case automatically without a trial.
But U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper denied the request without prejudice, meaning the pension fund can try again later.
The judge’s decision does not mean Super LLC won the case. Instead, it means the court determined there were still issues that needed to be corrected or clarified before granting the automatic judgment request.
The case remains active in federal court.