National Alliance for Fair Contracting

Nebraska

1. When is the prevailing wage rate used?
2. What is the definition of a public works or related projects?
3. Are there project monetary thresholds?
4. Are any types of projects specifically exempted?
5. What is included in the calculation of wage rates?
6. Who calculates the prevailing wage rates?
7. Enforcement: what are the penalties for violations? Criminal or fines?
8. Can contractors be debarred?
9. Are there posting requirements?
10. Does the agency retain any fines for enforcement (i.e. an enforcement fund)?
11. Record Maintenance?
12. Are there any provisions which discuss apprentices?

When is the prevailing wage rate used?
It is declared to be the policy of this state.

to establish a minimum wage for all workers at levels consistent with their health, efficiency and general well-being, and
to safeguard existing minimum wage compensation standards which are adequate to maintain the health, efficiency and general well-being of workers against the unfair competition of wage and hours standards which do not provide adequate standards of living. (48-1201)

What is the definition of a public works or related projects?
There is no definition in the law pertaining to "public works."

Are there project monetary thresholds?
There is no monetary threshold for projects to fall under the prevailing wage law in Nebraska. (U.S. Department of Labor)

Are any types of projects specifically exempted?
Because the prevailing wage is the same as the minimum wage, I am going to assume that the minimum wage thresholds are the same as the prevailing wage thresholds. For example, in Nebraska, an employer who hires fewer than four employees is exempt from the minimum wage laws. (United States Department of Labor)

What is included in the calculation of wage rates?
Wages shall mean all remuneration for personal services, including commissions and bonuses and the cash value of all remunerations in any medium other than cash. (48-1201)

Who calculates the prevailing wage rates?
The prevailing wage in this case is established the same way the minimum wage is established.

Enforcement: what are the penalties for violations? Criminal or fines?
A) Any employer who violates any of the provisions of section 48-1203 shall be guilty of a Class IV misdemeanor. (48-1206)

B) Action to recover unpaid minimum wages as provided in subsection (4) of this section may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself, herself, or themselves and other employees similarly situated, or such employee or employees may designate an agent or representative to maintain such action for and in behalf of all employees similarly situated. The court in which any action is brought under this subsection shall, in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff or plaintiffs, allow costs of the action and reasonable attorney's fees to be paid by the defendant. In any proceedings brought pursuant to this subsection, the employee shall not be required to pay any filing fee or other court costs necessarily incurred in such proceedings. (48-1206)

Can contractors be debarred?
There is no information stating that a contractor or employer can be debarred.

Are there posting requirements?
Every employer subject to the provisions of sections 48-1201 to 48-1209 shall keep a summary of sections 48-1201 to 48-1209, furnished by the Commissioner of Labor without charge, posted in a conspicuous place on or about the premises wherein any person subject to the provisions of sections 48-1201 to 48-1209 is employed. (48-1205)

Does the agency retain any fines for enforcement (i.e. an enforcement fund)?
There is no information stating that an agency retains fines for enforcement.

Record Maintenance?
While there are no regulations on record maintenance in the minimum wage law, there is a section which states that the Commissioner of Labor shall have the authority to subpoena records. (48-1206)

Are there any provisions which discuss apprentices?
A) Employee shall include any individual employed by any employer but shall not include:

Any individual employed in agriculture; (48-1201)
Any individual employed as a baby-sitter in or about a private home; (48-1201)
Any individual employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity or as a superintendent or supervisor; (48-1201)
Any individual employed by the United States or by the state or any political subdivision thereof; (48-1201)
Any individual engaged in the activities of an educational, charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization when the employer-employee relationship does not in fact exist or
when the services rendered to such organization are on a voluntary basis; (48-1201)
Apprentices and learners otherwise provided by law; (48-1201)
Veterans in training under supervision of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs; (48-1201)
A child in the employment of his or her parent or a parent in the employment of his or her child; or (48-1201)
Any person who, directly or indirectly, is receiving any form of federal, state, county, or local aid or welfare and who is physically or mentally disabled and employed in a program of rehabilitation, who shall receive a wage at a level consistent with his or her health, efficiency, and general well-being. (48-1201)

B) Any employer employing student-learners as part of a bona fide vocational training program shall pay such student-learners' wages at a rate of at least seventy-five percent of the minimum wage rate which would otherwise be applicable. (48-1203)

C) Training wage; rate; limitations. An employer may pay a new employee who is younger than twenty years of age and is not a seasonal or migrant worker a training wage at a rate of four dollars and twenty-five cents per hour for ninety days from the date the new employee was hired. An employer may pay such new employee the training wage rate for an additional ninety-day period while the new employee is participating in on-the-job training which (1) requires technical, personal, or other skills which are necessary for his or her employment and (2) is approved by the Commissioner of Labor. No more than one-fourth of the total hours paid by the employer shall be at the training wage rate. An employer shall not pay the training wage rate if the hours of any other employee are reduced or if any other employee is laid off and the hours or position to be filled by the new employee is substantially similar to the hours or position of such other employee. An employer shall not dismiss or reduce the hours of any employee with the intention of replacing such employee or his or her hours with a new employee receiving the training wage rate. (48-1203.01)

References
1.) Wage & Hour Act

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