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Framingham construction company fined nearly $1 million for wage theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Eric Casey
November 2, 2023

PI Construction Management, a Framingham-based company, has been fined $926,898 by the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General for violations of the Massachusetts False Claims Acts.

The violation stems from the failure of a BPI subcontractor, Superior Carpentry of Framingham, to pay prevailing wages to employees working on two public construction projects in Westport and Middleborough. This led to a complaint against the company being filed in December 2021, according to a press release released by AG’s office on Wednesday.

The fine was the result of litigation between BPI and the attorney general’s office, in which BPI argued that they were relying on the accuracy of the forms submitted by Superior. BPI denied any knowledge of the fraud being committed by Superior, according to the release, but admitted that it did not take steps to ensure that the payroll information was accurate.

This is the first case under the False Claims Act that affirms that contractors are liable for facilitating misconduct by subcontractors, according to the press release.

The AG’s office estimated that workers on the project were underpaid by a combined total of $256,539.

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New regs impact government construction contracting

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

New England Biz Law Update staff
October 31, 2023

The the U.S. Department of Labor has issued a final rule updating regulations that implement the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA).

The DBRA requires contractors and subcontractors on federally funded construction projects to pay their workers at least the prevailing wage rates for the locality in which the work is being performed. The final rule is the first comprehensive update to the Davis-Bacon regulations in over 40 years.

The rule includes a number of changes, including:

Restoring the 30% rule. The final rule restores the DOL’s definition of prevailing wage that was used until the Reagan Administration. Under this three-step process, the prevailing wage is that which is paid to a majority of workers in the classification. If no majority exists, then the prevailing wage is the rate paid to at least 30% of workers. If no rate is paid to at least 30%, then a weighted average will be used. (Previously, the average was used if a prevailing wage was not paid to 50% of workers.)

Adopting wage escalators. The final rule allows the DOL to more frequently update prevailing wage rates. Rather than hinging on DOL wage surveys, periodic updates will now be based on total compensation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Cost Index, which tracks both wages and benefits. Rate updates will occur every three years, at most.

Strengthening worker protection and enforcement rights. The final rule includes new anti-retaliation provisions to protect workers. The rule also strengthens the DOL’s ability to withhold money from federal contractors in order to pay employees their lost wages.

Providing greater clarity. The rule updates a number of definitions that affect applicability. For example, “building or work” now includes solar panels, wind turbines, broadband installation, and the installation of electric car chargers. Other changes affect who is considered a “material supplier” or a “prime contractor.”

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Illinois joins lengthening list of states outlawing wage theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

October 30, 2023

By an overwhelming legislative majority Illinois has joined the lengthening list of states to outlaw wage theft.

The measure, signed by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in September, shows again the importance of state-level lawmakers and governors to workers.

That can be both positive and negative. The nation is increasingly politically polarized. In “Blue States,” such as Illinois, New York, California, and, this year, Michigan and Minnesota, elected officials respond to workers’ support with worker protection legislation unlikely to make it through Capitol Hill.

But in often gerrymandered and/or racially polarized “Red States” – such as Texas and Florida and other Southern and lightly populated Great Plains states – right-wing radicals, funded by corporate special interests, enact and enforce worker suppression and voter suppression legislation, often at the same time.

Illinois’ wage theft bill, HB1122, was one of the top priorities of the state AFL-CIO. The Illinois House passed it 68 to 38 and the state Senate agreed 35 to 20. It takes effect next July 1.

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Senate confirms Looman as DOL Wage and Hour administrator

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Justin R. Barnes & Jeffrey W. Brecher
10.26.23

The Senate has confirmed Principal Deputy Administrator Jessica Looman as the head of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) by a 51-46 vote.

The WHD enforces the federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as other employment standards and worker protections under other statutes.

Since January 20, 2021, Looman had been serving as the Principal Agency Administrator, a role designated to permit her to lead the WHD while her nomination was pending without triggering litigation. An effort late last year to have Looman confirmed through unanimous consent was unsuccessful.

Previously, Looman served in various capacities in her home state of Minnesota, including as executive director of the state Building and Construction Trades Council, commissioner of the state’s Commerce Department, and deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

This is a key time for the WHD. The Department of Labor proposed new regulations in August that would substantially increase the number of workers who would be eligible for overtime compensation. The key provision of the rulemaking would provide overtime pay to salaried employees earning less than $55,068 annually. If the proposal is finalized, millions more salaried workers could be eligible for overtime compensation. More than 100 business groups have asked Looman to extend the comment period for the new overtime regulations given the significant impact of the proposed rulemaking.

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Final Rule Effective for the Davis-Bacon Act

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations
Oct. 23, 2023

Effective today, October 23, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor implemented the final rule, “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations.” This implementation follows the official publishing of the final rule in the Federal Register on August 23, 2023.

The change in regulation provides greater clarity and enhances the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) regulations’ effectiveness in the modern economy. Updates to the regulations strengthen and streamline the process for setting and enforcing prevailing wage rates on federally funded construction projects. This ensures that when the federal government invests in infrastructure, it also invests in workers.

These regulatory changes improve the department’s ability to administer and enforce DBRA labor standards effectively and efficiently. These changes include:

  • Creating several efficiencies in the prevailing wage update system and ensuring prevailing wage rates keep up with actual wages, which over time would mean higher wages for workers.
  • Returning to the definition of “prevailing wage” used from 1935 to 1983 to ensure prevailing wages reflect actual wages paid to workers in the local community.
  • Periodically updating prevailing wage rates to address out-of-date wage determinations.
  • Providing broader authority to adopt state or local wage determinations when certain criteria are met.
  • Issuing supplemental rates for key job classifications when no survey data exists.
  • Updating the regulatory language to better reflect modern construction practices.
  • Strengthening worker protections and enforcement, including debarment and new anti-retaliation provisions.

Visit our website for more information on the Davis-Bacon Final Rule and the Davis-Bacon Act.

Davis-Bacon Regulations in the Federal Register

POINT: Strong prevailing-wage standards help grow the economy

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

The Sun Chronicle
By Karla Walter Oct 20, 2023

The trickle-down strategies of the last several decades — defined by tax cuts for the wealthy — didn’t work and, in fact, led to stagnating incomes for everyone else.

However, the Biden administration’s vision for growth is clear: The Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and CHIPS and Science Act chart a new path based on the philosophy that the economy is strongest when it grows from the “middle out and bottom up.”

These sweeping economic laws build out public investment in 21st century infrastructure and support domestic competitiveness in key sectors, all while strengthening protections to ensure new public investment benefits working people from all walks of life.

At times, pundits portrayed Bidenomics as a gamble, but key elements of the laws’ middle-class protections — such as prevailing-wage standards — are proven strategies that raise standards for workers, support law-abiding contractors and ensure the public receives good value for the investments paid for by tax dollars.

The overwhelming majority of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act funds, and the IRA’s tax credit programs are protected by the Davis-Bacon Act — a 90-year-old law that requires corporations receiving federal funds to pay construction workers market — or “prevailing” — wages and benefits.

Prevailing-wage standards, also frequently adopted by state and local policymakers, prevent the government from driving down standards when it acts as a purchaser of goods and services. Private-sector recipients are required to provide workers with wages and fringe benefits comparable to those paid to other similarly placed workers in the region.

Research shows that prevailing-wage laws improve workers’ lives by supporting middle-class pay, ensuring union wage rates are not undercut, expanding health insurance and retirement coverage, and closing the income gap between white and Black construction workers.

DOL Increases Hourly Minimum Wage to $17.20 for Federal Contractors Starting January 1, 2024

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

JD Supra
October 4, 2023

Beginning on January 1, 2024, Executive Order 14026 (Order) will raise the minimum wage for workers performing work on or in connection with covered contracts to from $16.20 to $17.20 per hour, a second year of a significant adjustment to the minimum wage for service and construction workers doing work on federal projects. Government contractors in the service and construction sectors should evaluate how the minimum wage increase will affect their operations and pricing strategies when bidding on new government contracts.

The Evolution of Federal Contract Minimum Wage

This Order builds upon the foundation laid by Executive Order 13658, which initially established a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour for federal contract workers in 2014. Since then, the minimum wage has seen incremental increases. In 2021, the Biden administration issued Executive Order 14026, adjusting the wage upward to $15.00 per hour with annual adjustments issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) each calendar year, and which automatically become effective on January 1.

Who Is Affected by Executive Order 14026?

The Order broadly affects federal contracts and subcontracts and applies to:

  1. contracts subject to the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA), governing wage rates on federal construction projects and
  2. contracts covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA), which regulates service contracts.

Compliance and Enforcement

  1. The DOL is responsible for enforcing compliance with the Order. Contractors found to be in violation may face penalties, including the withholding of contract funds.
  2. Contractors are required to maintain comprehensive records of employees’ wages, hours worked, and other relevant data related to covered contracts, facilitating the enforcement of the order.
  3. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.222-55, Minimum Wages for Contractors Under Executive Order 14026 (distinguished from the former FAR provision with the same number but a different name) should have been modified into applicable contracts or subcontracts that were solicited, renewed, or extended after January 31, 2022.
  4. From the effective date of the modification that incorporated the new provision through December 31, 2022, the applicable minimum wage was $15.00 per hour.
  5. Effective January 1, 2023, the minimum wage became $16.20 per hour. The DOL may issue increases to the minimum wage that will be effective each year on January 1.
  6. At this point, a contract for services or construction should contain the new FAR clause. If it does not, the obligation to pay the higher minimum wage does not apply. However, to avoid possible investigations by the DOL and disgruntled employees, we recommend bringing the issue to the attention of the contracting officer or prime contractor immediately and retroactively applying the wage requirements.
  7. You may request a price adjustment for the actual difference in wages and fringe benefits you have to pay as a result of a change, and you should do so within thirty (30) days of the change in wage rate.
  8. This requirement applies to non-exempt workers on contracts subject to the DBA and SCA, as well as any non-exempt employee working in connection with a covered contract.

(See Article)

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US Department of Labor recovers more than $947k from Oregon federal contractors who denied full wages, benefits to 213 construction workers

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Wage and Hour Division

September 21, 2023

The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $947,547 from four Oregon contractors who failed to pay fringe benefits, prevailing and overtime wages to 213 employees working on federally funded construction projects in Oregon and Washington.

The recovery follows several investigations by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and the discovery of violations of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Specifically, federal investigators found the following:

G Builders LLC, a Damascus wood framing company, classified employees incorrectly and failed to pay them the appropriate prevailing wages and fringe benefits for the type of work they did while building affordable housing units at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded projects in Gresham and Eugene, and in Vancouver, Washington.
Joshua Legacy Painting and Restoration LLC, a Hillsboro construction contractor, did not pay workers the correct prevailing wages, fringe benefits and overtime while building affordable housing for farmworkers at the federally funded Colonia Paz complex in Lebanon.

Emagineered Solutions Inc., a Redmond heavy construction contractor and equipment manufacturer, incorrectly classified workers for the type of work they did and failed to pay them proper prevailing wages and overtime while working on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-funded project at the John Day Lock and Dam in the Columbia River near Rufus.
Reyes Construction LLC, a Bend roofing services contractor, failed to pay employees corresponding prevailing wages and fringe benefits while working on a residential construction project in Ontario with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In total, the division’s investigations helped 213 workers recover $846,440 in prevailing wages and fringe benefits, and $101,106 in overtime wages. The department also assessed G Builders $10,000 in penalties because the company violated similar federal labor laws in 2016 and 2021.

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Healey, Campbell push legislation to fight wage theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

State House News Service
September 20, 2023

Vulnerable workers, including immigrants who do not know their rights or are fearful of employer retaliation, could gain stronger protections against pervasive wage theft under legislation that is supported by Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell and Gov. Maura T. Healey but has failed to win over Democrats on Beacon Hill for years.

Campbell on Sept. 19 publicly voiced her support for proposals that would strengthen her office’s authority to crack down on wage theft and protect Massachusetts from lost economic growth, jobs, and taxes. The latest version of the bill is being billed as a compromise between labor and business.

Legislation sponsored by Rep. Daniel Donahue and Sen. Sal DiDomenico (H. 1868 / S. 1158) would allow Campbell to file a civil action seeking injunctive relief for damages, lost wages, and other benefits for workers. Campbell also would have the authority to investigate wage theft complaints and seek civil remedies for violations, as well as to issue stop-work orders against contractors or businesses who are violating wage theft provisions.

“Access to a decent paying job and benefits is absolutely essential to ensuring economic security for individuals and their families,” Campbell told the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development during a hearing on Sept. 19. “We know passing a strong, and smart, and effective wage bill is crucial.”

Some $1 billion in wages are stolen each year in the commonwealth by employers and contractors, and workers recoup less than 2 percent of their stolen pay, according to data from the Wage Theft Coalition led by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. When DiDomenico first filed his bill in 2015, stolen wages totaled roughly $300 million, he told the committee.

 

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US Department of Labor Announces Final Rule to Modernize Davis-Bacon Act

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on
Agency: Wage and Hour Division
Date: August 8, 2023
Release Number: 23-145-NAT
Aided by labor, industry stakeholders’ comments, most comprehensive updates in 40 years

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the issuance of the final rule “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulation” to update regulations that implement the Davis-Bacon Act and Davis-Bacon and Related Acts to reflect better the needs of construction workers on federal construction investments.

The announcement follows a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on March 18, 2022, which received comments from construction industry and labor stakeholders that helped inform the regulatory updates. The updates are the most comprehensive in decades.

The final rule provides greater clarity and enhances the DBRA regulations’ effectiveness in the modern economy. These updates strengthen and streamline the process for setting and enforcing wage rates on federally funded construction projects to make sure that federal government infrastructure investments are also investments in U.S. workers.

“Modernizing the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts is key to making sure that the jobs being created under the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda are good jobs, and that workers get the fair wages and benefits they deserve on federally funded constructions projects across the nation,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “This updated rule will create pathways to the middle class for more families and help level the playing field for high-road employers because companies who exploit their workers, or who don’t pay workers fairly, should never have a competitive advantage.”

The final rule’s regulatory changes improve the department’s ability to administer and enforce DBRA labor standards more effectively and efficiently. These changes include the following:

  • Creating new efficiencies in the prevailing wage update system and making sure prevailing wage rates keep up with actual wages which, over time, would mean higher wages for workers.
  • Returning to the definition of “prevailing wage” used from 1935 to 1983 to ensure prevailing wages reflect actual wages paid to workers in the local community.
  • Periodically updating prevailing wage rates to address out-of-date wage determinations.
  • Providing broader authority to adopt state or local wage determinations when certain criteria are met
  • Issuing supplemental rates for key job classifications when no survey data exists.
  • Updating the regulatory language to better reflect modern construction practices.
  • Strengthening worker protections and enforcement, including debarment and anti-retaliation provisions.

The DBRA requirements apply to an estimated tens of billions of dollars in federal and federally assisted construction spending each year and provide minimum wage rates for hundreds of thousands of U.S. construction workers. The department expects a significant increase in the numbers of industry workers due to the historic investments in federally funded construction projects made possible by legislation such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“In light of recent investments in our nation’s infrastructure, modernized regulations are more important than ever to ensure fair wages and benefits for the workers who build and repair our roads, bridges, federal buildings and energy infrastructure,” said Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “They will help set correct wage rates for workers on these federally funded construction projects that better reflect the realities of today’s labor market.”

New federal investments will support projects related to clean energy, power and water infrastructure improvements, legacy pollution remediation, and renovation to the nation’s broadband and transportation infrastructures.

The DBRA’s purpose is to ensure employers on federally funded or assisted construction projects pay locally prevailing wages to construction workers and to prevent the unintended consequence of depressing workers’ wages during the government’s construction contracting activity.

The final rule will be effective 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. Learn more about the final rule to modernize Davis-Bacon Act regulations.

Learn more about DBRA worker protections or the Wage and Hour Division. You may also call toll-free 1-866-4US-WAGE to speak directly and confidentially to a trained Wage and Hour Division professional. The division protects workers regardless of where they are from and can communicate with workers in more than 200 languages.