Gov. Carney signs wage theft and other labor protection bills into law

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Delaware Public Media | By Paul Kiefer
Published October 10, 2022

Gov. John Carney signed a bill into law on Friday defining wage theft as a crime and setting financial penalties for violators.

The new wage theft law is one of the most detailed in the country, targeting an array of strategies used by employers to avoid paying taxes or underpay workers. Its sponsor, State Sen. Jack Walsh (D-Christiana/Newark), says wage theft, including misclassifying workers as part-time or contractors, is widespread and often leaves workers without access to key benefits.

“Having them work off-the-clock, paying them under the table – which presents problems down the road because they can’t access worker’s compensation or unemployment,” he said. “Basically, they’re misclassifying people, 1099-ing them, when they’re actual employees and should be treated as such.”

Delaware’s Department of Labor is responsible for investigating wage theft allegations and can refer cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

The law also sets financial penalties, including fines between $20,000 and $50,000 for retaliating against employees who report wage theft.

Carney also signed a bill into law on Friday that holds employers liable for damages if they do not provide a paycheck within one pay period after an employee is laid off or discharged, or after the employee resigns or quits.

(View Source)

unnamed

State Senate considers defining wage theft in state law

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Delaware Public Media | By Paul Kiefer
Published May 18, 2022

Delaware’s Department of Labor and Department of Justice are backing a bill that would criminalize wage theft by employers.

Deputy Secretary of Labor Rachel Turney says under current Delaware law, employees paid under the table or misclassified as independent contractors have no clear way to seek justice if their employer doesn’t pay them appropriately for their work.

“The goal of the bill is to provide protection to workers who are paid under the table or misclassified as independent contractors, and therefore are not covered by the workers protection laws in place,” she said.

Her office estimates it receives about 1,000 of these complaints each year, and Turney says the most they can do is refer them to agencies like the IRS, which rarely take up individual worker complaints.

Sam Noel, a spokesman for Carpenters’ Union Local 255, supports the bill, saying it would help address the increasing misclassification of workers in the construction industry.

“This really helps the industry have contractors all on the same playing field,” he said.

This bill would allow employees to bring complaints to the Department of Labor, which would hold a hearing with the employer accused of wrongdoing. Employers found not to have paid an employee correctly would be required to provide restitution to the employee and pay a fine. Those fines would help pay for two enforcement officers – one at the Department of Labor, and another at the Department of Justice.

But State Sen. Colin Bonini is concerned about that funding structure.

“I’m always loathe to create enforcement mechanisms that are self-funding based on the fines they can levy on the people they’re overseeing,” he said.

Despite those concerns, the bill cleared the Senate’s labor committee on Wednesday.

(See Article)

Businesses: Get Familiar With Recent Changes to Del. Construction Law (DE)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Significant changes to the law were passed by Delaware’s 150th General Assembly that all construction firms doing business in the First State should be aware of.

By Kevin Fasic and Anthony N. Delcollo
August 15, 2019 at 11:10 AM

Significant changes to the law were passed by Delaware’s 150th General Assembly that all construction firms doing business in the First State should be aware of. Generally, these changes amend the Workplace Fraud Act (19 Del.C. Sections 3501-3515), create the Delaware Contractor Registration Act (19 Del.C. Sections 3601-3611), and establish an apprenticeship training requirement under the Large Public Works Contract Procedures statute (29 Del.C. Section 6962).

…

(Read More)

Department of Labor begins new pre-apprenticeship program (DE)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Submitted News
Posted Feb 26, 2019 at 5:30 PM

Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Employment and Training, Office of Apprenticeship and Training developed a new registered pre-apprenticeship program to complement its existing registered apprenticeship programs.

The office will approve the program providers and will post a list of qualified pre-apprenticeship programs on its website.

Pre-apprenticeship programs are ideal for individuals who lack experience or education but want to build a solid foundation to start a successful career. As Delaware’s unemployment rate drops, disadvantaged and underrepresented populations will be at a greater risk of being left behind. Pre-apprenticeship opportunities will allow these populations to gain the needed hard and soft skills for a successful career.

Pre-apprenticeship programs refer to a program or set of strategies designed to prepare individuals to enter and succeed in a registered apprenticeship program. Pre-apprenticeship programs are designed to create a qualified pipeline of individuals ready to become registered apprentices; expand registered apprentices to include underrepresented participants such as nontraditional gender or race/ethnicity, disadvantaged populations or low-skilled workers; and recognize credit for related education or training.

Registered apprenticeship is an effective “earn while you learn” model with a long history of providing career ladders and pathways to the middle class, particularly for the building and construction industry but increasingly in other industries as well. In calendar year 2018, the average starting wage for an apprentice was $14.70 per hour, or $29,400 per year, with wages upon completion averaging at $24 per hour, or $48,000 per year. These results demonstrate the advantages a registered apprenticeship offers in providing a significant wage gain and a clear career path for entry-level workers.

(Read More)

Worcester to guard against wage theft in future tax deals for private development

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Nick Kotsopoulos
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Updated Dec 9, 2018 at 8:05 PM

WORCESTER – The city will include provisions against wage theft in future tax increment financing agreements for private development projects, City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. has informed the City Council.

The action is in response to a call by several councilors to strengthen the city’s current wage theft ordinance, where appropriate, to include stipulations for building permits.

While it has been determined that the city cannot legally impose such conditions on building permits, it can put them in tax deals for private projects.

“The goal is to secure compliance and eliminate the use of wage theft tactics by entities doing business with the city,” Mr. Augustus wrote in a report that goes before the City Council Tuesday night.

In 2016, the City Council approved a wage-theft ordinance that prohibits the city from awarding contracts to companies that have been found guilty of not complying with federal and state wage laws, including failing to pay their employees, and failing to pay prevailing wage, minimum wage and overtime.

Other types of wage theft include denial of legal benefits such as industrial accident and health insurance, improper classification of employees and violations involving payment of taxes, unemployment compensation, Social Security and income tax withholding.

Under the Worcester ordinance, successful bidders for city contracts have to provide a certification of compliance regarding payment of wages to employees.

(Read More)

unnamed

The need for Prevailing Wage (DE)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

PUBLISHED NOV 27, 2018 AT 3:38 PM

The basic reason why the prevailing wage was created was to help local contractors to compete with out-of-state contractors, paying a lower rate. The same people complaining about the prevailing wage would also be complaining about immigrant labor coming into a county for those jobs. If you visit Columbus Avenue in Palisades Park or areas of Dover, you would see immigrants getting picked up for Construction jobs! Are they properly trained? No, I have created apprenticeships following tenets of the National Bureau of Apprenticeship Training, and I know what is needed for a 4- or 5-year program!

The rates or wages for prevailing wages are developed by surveying contractors and unions to determine the wages for each classification (Source: William Winkler)! Some of the variables looked at are the wages in the largest city in a county, viewing the majority wage! If more than one-half of all the workers reported in that city are at a certain wage than that is the majority wage rate and that wage rate becomes the rate for the whole county.

If there is not a majority wage, as listed above, then a weighted wage is computed using data from the largest city in the county, and that becomes the prevailing wage. If no hours are reported in a county’s largest city then a wage is computed for the county, and that becomes the Prevailing wage, and finally, if no data is reported for the entire county, and that county’s old Prevailing Wage remains in effect. This has been the process, since 1931, and earlier in an historical context.

(Read More)

Sussex County Council defeats right-to-work ordinance (DE)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Officials site potential legal costs and lack of authority to enact measure

By Ron MacArthur
January 9, 2018

Sussex County Council voted 4-1 to deny a proposed right-to-work ordinance. The action follows a prolonged Jan. 2 public hearing as well as testimony during public comment periods over the past three months since the ordinance was introduced.

Union members have attended every meeting since introduction and protested against the ordinance Jan. 2 and Jan. 9 on The Circle in Georgetown.

At its Jan. 9 meeting, county attorney J. Everett Moore reiterated his stand that Sussex County Council does not have the right to enact an ordinance under the state’s home-rule statute. Moore spoke for nearly a half-hour providing background leading to his legal
opinion that only the Delaware General Assembly has that right.

After Moore’s presentation, Councilman Rob Arlett, R-Frankford, said there was a lot of information to digest. “It makes sense to defer based on what you just said. It’s a big decision,” he said, offering a motion to defer.

That drew jeers from the crowded council chambers.

Arlett, who introduced the ordinance as a potential economic development measure, failed to get a second on his motion. Arlett was the only councilman to vote in favor of the ordinance during the subsequent vote.

Council agreed that the cost of defending potential legal action in state and federal courts would impact the county’s budget, and could lead to the county losing its insurance company in the future. The four councilmen opposed to the ordinance agreed with Moore’s legal opinion.

(Read More)

Prevailing wage is good for workers (DE)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Letters to the Editor
Published 9:00 a.m. ET Sept. 12, 2017
Updated 10:26 a.m. ET Sept. 12, 2017

There he goes again. In the Monday News Journal story “Prevailing wage law ignites Republican suspicion,” Sen. Greg Lavelle continues to offer alternative facts about the state’s prevailing wage law.

The truth is prevailing wage is determined by wage surveys of construction work done in Delaware, reflecting a market rate for construction workers. It includes a worker’s total compensation – take home pay, cash value of health care benefits, and retirement benefits.

The prevailing wage applies to union and non-union construction workers and it levels the playing field for Delaware workers by protecting their wages from unscrupulous contractors and out of state workers.

Plus, multiple studies and analyses of other states, like Wisconsin and Indiana, that have eliminated prevailing wage have shown that the savings promised through the deceitful and anti-worker rhetoric never materialized.

Mike Hackendorn
Vice President, Delaware Building Trades Council

(Read More)

Democratic leaders: Prevailing wage is good for Delaware (DE)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Senators David McBride, Margaret Rose Henry and Nicole Poore
Published 2:07 p.m. ET July 21, 2017
Updated 2:33 p.m. ET July 21, 2017

The 2017 budget debate is behind us, and plenty of page space in this publication and others has been committed to its finer details. We’re perplexed, though, by how much of the Republican dialogue continues to be dominated by an issue completely peripheral to the budget: the prevailing wage paid to blue-collar workers on public works projects.

Partisan misinformation has clouded the truth surrounding both the budget and the prevailing wage. We believe that the public deserves a discussion that cuts through political spin and cocktail napkin math and offers a straightforward inventory of the facts.

Prevailing wage laws ensure fairness in government contracts by basing laborers’ total compensation on a survey of similar workers in their area, just as anyone would expect wages commensurate with their skills, occupation, and cost of living.

You may have heard some of the following myths:

Myth: The prevailing wage is a budget issue that affects the $354 million deficit closed by the General Assembly earlier this month.

Fact: Public works projects are funded almost entirely by the capital budget, or “bond bill,” a completely separate balance sheet. Our operating deficit was caused by a unique combination of factors: growing public school enrollment, special education costs, national health care prices, and a tax portfolio that works more like a scratch-off ticket than a speedometer for our economy. Our colleagues across the aisle who sit on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee are perfectly aware of that fact.

Myth: Reducing or repealing the prevailing wage would lower public construction costs by as much as 24 percent.

Fact: Multiple studies and real-world examples show that this is simply untrue. States that slash public works wages rarely realize the cost savings that are promised in campaign years, while middle class wages tumble and the economy suffers. That actually does hurt the state’s bottom line.

(Read More)

Wilmington-Based Electrical Company Cited $100K+ (DE)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

The AG’s Office zeroed in on the company, which dissolved in 2016.

 

By Mike Carraggi (Patch National Staff)
Updated August 9, 2017 12:31 am ET

WILMINGTON, MA – A Wilmington-based electrical company was cited more than $100,000 in restitution and penalties for not properly paying employees working to repair streetlights in Worcester, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. …

Wilmington Wiring Corporation and owner John Garrett had three civil citations issued against it for failure to pay the prevailing wage, failure to furnish payroll records, and failure to furnish certified payroll records to the AG’s Office.

“Prevailing wage laws ensure workers are paid a real, living wage, and level the playing field for companies that play by the rules,” said Healey. “Workers, honest employers, and taxpayers lose when companies fail to follow wage and hour laws.”

WWC was based in Wilmington until it dissolved in May 2016. The AG’s Office began investigating the company in January of that year after an employee filed a complaint alleging he was not paid the prevailing wage rate for five years of work on a public project repairing streetlights in Worcester, the AG’s Office said. An investigation revealed six employees were not paid proper prevailing wage for the public works project; only WWC union employees were. WWC also then ignored the AG’s Fair Labor Divison’s payroll demands, the AG’s Office said.

(Read More)