Articles Posted in prevailing wages

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…

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in Mullally v. Waste Management of Massachusetts, has ruled that employers must use the prevailing rate for purposes of calculating overtime on all public works projects. The Massachusetts overtime statute, M.G.L. c. 151, § 1A, states that “no employer in the commonwealth shall employ any of his employees …for a…