By Phil Kabler
10/23/19
CHARLESTON – In the 2018-19 budget year, the Division of Labor cited 526 violations of the Jobs Act, fining contractors a total of $106,450, according to a report to the West Virginia Legislature.
Enacted in 2001, the Jobs Act is intended to assure that 75% of jobs on state-funded public works projects go to local workers. It authorizes the Division of Labor to impose fines of up to $100 a day on employers who knowingly violate the act.
A legislative audit released in June concluded that the Jobs Act has been largely ineffective, in part because in order to comply with federal law, local markets were defined to include out-of-state counties that are within 50 miles of the West Virginia line.
The audit found that means workers residing in 150 counties surrounding West Virginia, with a total population of 17.3 million people, are considered part of the local market area. The local market includes the major metropolitan areas of Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.
“In terms of general population, West Virginia makes up 9.5% of the local labor market,” the audit noted.
The audit also concluded that the Division of Labor receives no additional funding for Jobs Act compliance, and relies on 18 inspectors statewide to enforce the act – along with multiple other regulations that the inspectors enforce.
According to the report to the Legislature, Labor inspectors conducted 338 Jobs Act field inspections in 2018-19 and reviewed employment and payroll records for 1,943 construction projects.
While the majority of projects in the report were listed as in compliance with the Jobs Act, contractors and projects cited as being out of compliance were:
-S&D Industrial Painting of Tarpon Springs, Florida, six citations on a Division of Highways project in Nicholas County.
-HVB ICF Contractors of Gay Mills, Wisconsin, on a Mercer County Board of Education project.
-Southern Trades of Louisville, Kentucky, on a Doddridge County Board of Education project.
-Bonsai Design of Grand Junction, Colorado, on a Division of Natural Resources project in Summers County.
-KVK Contractors of Tarpon Springs, Florida, on a West Virginia Parkways project in Kanawha County.
-Oglesby Construction of Norwalk, Ohio, on a West Virginia Parkways project in Mercer County.
Additionally, 20 employers requested 353 Jobs Act waivers and were granted waivers for 341 workers.