Prevailing Wage Laws Upheld

Contractors working on public works projects must pay their workers prevailing wages, even when the Department of Labor fails to set a prevailing wage rate for a particular job.

In George et al v. National Water Main Cleaning Company et al, the contractor hired “catch basin cleaning” employees to clean state and city sewers. The contractor then failed to pay those workers prevailing wages, and argued that prevailing wage laws were unconstitutional. But the Federal District Court saw through the charade, finding that that Section 27F of Massachusetts allows the Department of Labor to correctly classify workers and set prevailing wage rates, and that the Legislature’s decision to delegate that authority was perfectly fine.

If you are employed by a public works company and are concerned about your job classification or whether you are paid properly, please call us today.