New Jersey ordered more than two dozen Boston Market locations to close Tuesday because regulators found “multiple violations of workers’ rights,” including failure to pay wages, and fined the restaurant chain nearly $2.6 million.

In a release, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development said it issued 27 “stop-work” orders to Boston Markets across the state because the agency found more than $600,000 in back pay owed to 314 workers and $1.2 million in liquidated damages.

The nine-month long investigation followed complaints from at least three dozen Boston Market employees that the company failed to pay minimum wage, to pay earned sick leave and to maintain records for earned sick leave.

[Boston Market faces similar allegations in Arizona and Massachusetts, plus claims of unpaid supplier bills totaling more than $11 million. Sounds as though it’s about to go under, just three yeas after its acquisition by Engage Brands. The question is, though, how Boston Market can pay the back wages while its doors are closed, and how the closure impacts the employees in the short term who clearly won’t be earning anything while the doors are shut. I’d guess that most of them will look for other employment and that most of these doors end up staying closed. — Ed]