Jim Reed, Director of the CCC, has just announced details for the upcoming 12th Annual Underground Economy and Labor Compliance Conference. The conference is scheduled for May 14-17, 2014, at the Riviera Palm Springs in Palm Springs, CA. Early registration is now available, sign up prior to April 6th, 2014, and your registration fee will be waived.
Summit Drywall Inc. ordered to pay $550,000 in unpaid wages and damages to 384 workers to settle US Department of Labor lawsuit
SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ordering Issaquah-based drywall installer Summit Drywall Inc., and its owner Thomas Kauzlarich, to pay $550,000 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages to 384 current and former employees. The judgment resolves an investigation and subsequent lawsuit by the department that found the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and record-keeping provisions from Oct. 15, 2009, through April 15, 2013.

16th Annual NAFC Conference to be held in Chicago, Illinois
NAFC has announced that it will be holding its 16th Annual Conference this year in the lakeside city of Chicago, IL, September 17-19, 2014.
The NAFC Conference provides a national forum for those committed to combating noncompliance of state and federal public contracting laws and draws attendance from contractors, labor unions, fair contracting organizations, attorneys and various officials from local, state and federal governments around the nation.
More information coming soon!
Maryland DLLR to host Employment Rights & Safety Forum
2014 BCTD Conference
AMERICA’S BUILDING TRADES
2014 LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE
March 9 – March 12, 2014
Washington Hilton & Towers Hotel
1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
FFC in Northern California announces an array of training opportunities

Administration Proposes Federal Prevailing Wage for State Construction
Construction bids for state-funded capital construction projects could soon be subject to wage requirements that alter the way in which companies compete for the jobs.
Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan told lawmakers Wednesday that Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration is advocating a switch to the federal prevailing wage as the basis for contract requirements on state capital construction projects. The administration also suggests requiring a prevailing wage for construction workers for all state-funded capital construction projects, regardless of how much they cost.

Court Decides H-2B Visas Should Be Protected by Prevailing Wages to Avoid Hurting American Workers
The Third District Court of Appeals handed American workers a victory with their ruling in the case of Louisiana Forestry Association v. Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor. The court found that the Department of Labor’s wage regulation methodology is valid pertaining to H-2b visas, meaning the Department of Homeland Security must rely on the Labor Department’s decisions about the number of American workers available for a job.

New Kentucky Prevailing Wage Study Released
The Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council has commissioned a new study considering the effects of repealing Kentucky’s prevailing wage law. See below for a full copy of the report by Prof. Philips, University of Utah.

Executive Order — Minimum Wage for Contractors
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary