Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips (R-40) is tired of the New JerseyDepartment of Labor’s failures over the past two years.
He wants to impeach NJDOL Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angel, and he announced on Thursday that he’s going to present a resolution.
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“Enough is enough and it’s time for a change,” said DePhillips. “Because of his incompetency, lawmakers have essentially turned their offices into satellite unemployment offices. What’s more, when the unemployed find their way to us, they are at their wits’ end and facing utility shutoffs, foreclosure and eviction.”
“His statements illustrate his arrogance during one of the worst times in our state’s history,” DePhillips added. “In the beginning of the pandemic, when there were more than a million people out of work, he said 94% of claims had been paid. It turned out that number included one-time payments and people who had received some money, but then had benefits unexpectedly stop. All the smoke and mirrors in the world couldn’t hide the deficiencies at the Labor Department.”
Asaro-Angel recently announced the return of in-person services, but they will be limited, appointment-only, and won’t begin until March 28th. The announcement came about only after rumblings from the legislature including a GOP bill to dock senior management’s pay (S-2082/A-3517) and a Democrat-supported resolution.
“People are struggling, people are crying on the telephone,” said Senator Mike Testa, who sponsored S-2082, to the Labor Commissioner during a heated Thursday hearing. “Constituents know your employees haven’t missed a paycheck, and they don’t understand why they still can’t get money they are owed or why they can’t get an answer.”
DePhillips decried the March 28th concession as “insult to injury” after two years of an epic unemployment claims backlog.
“Our unemployed residents deserve undivided attention and unlimited in-person help so they can receive the payments they rightfully earned,” said DePhillips. “It is what the Labor Department is supposed to do and since it’s not happening, the commissioner must go.”
Impeachment in New Jersey follows a similar track as the federal level. The Assembly votes on impeachment and, if a simple majority support it, the Senate then conducts a trial overseen by the state Supreme Court’s chief justice; a two-thirds majority is required in the Senate for conviction and removal.
