unnamed

Labor & Industry Helps Return $8.5 Million To Workers Wronged By Employers In 2022

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Jan. 5, 2023 | bctv.org

In 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) investigated more than 4,500 complaints of alleged labor law violations and returned more than $8.5 million in earned wages to Pennsylvania workers whose employers violated a labor law, according to data released Tuesday by L&I Secretary Jennifer Berrier.

“Workers in Pennsylvania have the right to keep every cent they rightfully earn,” Berrier said. “The department’s Bureau of Labor Law Compliance holds employers accountable when they wrongfully deny workers their earned wages or when they violate any of Pennsylvania’s labor laws. From ensuring proper overtime wages are paid to protecting children from exploitative work, the bureau enforces 13 labor and employment laws that are essential to the protection and safety of every worker in the commonwealth.”

Most of the complaints investigated in 2022 and in recent years were relevant to the Wage Payment and Collection Law (WPCL), the Minimum Wage Act (MWA), the Prevailing Wage Act, (PWA), the Child Labor Act (CLA) and the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act (CWMA).

  • Under the WPCL, the bureau investigates complaints filed by persons alleging nonpayment of wages, final paychecks or fringe benefits. In 2022, the bureau collected more than $6.6 million from about 1,200 employers in violation of the law and returned those dollars to workers, up from more than $2 million from about 900 employers in 2021.
  • Under the MWA, the bureau investigates complaints alleging employers failed to pay minimum wage or overtime. In August 2022, the bureau also began enforcement of regulations largely affecting tipped employees. During all of 2022, the bureau collected $915,000 from 70 employers in violation of the law and returned those dollars to workers, up from $566,000 from 60 employers in 2021.
  • Under the PWA, the bureau enforces requirements for prevailing wage rates on publicly funded construction projects. In 2022, the bureau determined more than 9,500 prevailing wage violations (up from 8,500 in 2021) and returned more than $1 million to workers who were not paid the proper prevailing wages on projects across the commonwealth.
  • Under the CLA, the bureau investigates allegations of child employees engaged in prohibited occupations, working excessive hours, not receiving mandated break times, or working in dangerous conditions. In 2022, the bureau issued fines to more than 100 entities and collected $205,000 in child labor fines that were deposited into the general fund.
  • Under the CWMA, the bureau investigates allegations of construction-industry employers misclassifying employees as independent contractors. In 2022, the bureau issued penalties to more than 125 construction-industry employers and collected$272,965 in fines. These funds are deposited into the commonwealth’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.

Altogether in 2022, $8.5 million was returned to nearly 10,000 workers.

In December 2022, the Joint Task Force on Misclassification of Employees – a bipartisan-nominated group of volunteers representing business, labor, and government perspectives – submitted its final report to the General Assembly with 15 unanimous recommendations – including extension of the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act beyond the construction trades to cover other industries in the commonwealth.

Since 2015, the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance has collected $46 million in unlawfully withheld wages from employers and returned those dollars to the workers who earned them. During the same period, the bureau has collected nearly $3 million in fines from more than 1,000 contractors in violation of the CWMA and has collected $3.8 million in fines from 430 different entities in violation of the Child Labor Act.

In addition to the laws mentioned above, the bureau enforces the Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act, the Equal Pay Law, the Inspection of Employment Records Law, the Industrial Homework Law, the Seasonal Farm Labor Law, the Medical Fee Act, the Construction Industry Employee Verification Act and regulations on apprenticeship and training.

The Bureau of Labor Law Compliance includes 26 investigators, four supervisors and six central office staff who work in district offices located in Altoona, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

 

dispatcher-12

Civil procedure – jurisdiction (IL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Where an employee is hired to perform labor for public works covered by the Prevailing Wage Act, they retain the right of action from the act even if their contract does not contain the provision guaranteeing them prevailing wage in contravention of the act.

Posted May 7, 2020 9:54 AM

The 1st District Appellate Court reversed and remanded the decision of Cook County Circuit Judge Margaret Ann Brennan.

The plaintiffs in this case are 12 landscape laborers employed by Moore Landscapes LLC (Moore) as tree planters. Moore had three contracts with the Chicago Parks District for landscaping and related work, each of which contained a standard “prevailing wage rates provision” which mandates that the contractor pay all their employees prevailing wages “if applicable.” It is not disputed that $41.20 is the prevailing wage for landscape related work and the plaintiffs were paid an hourly rate of $18 for their labor. Section 11 of the Prevailing Wage Act (Act) requires all public works to pay the prevailing wage for the labor, and provides a right of action for any laborer who was paid less than the prevailing wage for a contractor doing public works.

The plaintiffs filed suit against Moore in September 2018 seeking unpaid wages, punitive damages, prejudgment interest and reasonable attorney fees and costs. Moore moved to dismiss, arguing their work was exempt from the prevailing wage provisions of the act and citing interpretations by the Illinois Department of Labor. Moore also moved to dismiss under fail to allege facts sufficient to support a claim, asserting the laborers failed to allege facts that supported the inference that the type of labor they performed was covered by the Wage Act. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs appealed.

On appeal, Moore argued that, for section 11 of the act to apply, the contract with the laborers must specify that they would be paid prevailing wages, and their contracts had no such provision. The plaintiffs argued that section 11 of the act also mandated that Moore include such a provision, which Moore did not deny, but instead claimed that because there was no contractual stipulation, the plaintiffs had no right of action and must rely on the Department of Labor to enforce any provisions of the act on their behalf. The plaintiffs claimed that the trial court’s interpretation rewards those who issue contracts which violate the act by protecting them from the right of action the act guarantees their employees.

The appellate court agreed with the plaintiffs. The court found that an employer’s failure to adhere to section 4 of the act, which mandates that the contracts include the provision at issue, does not in any way limit an employee’s right of action granted under section 11 of the act for any work where they should have been covered under the act. The appellate court emphasized that to do otherwise would allow employers to avoid liability by failing to adhere to the mandates of the act. The appellate court acknowledged that there is an issue as to whether the labor performed by the plaintiffs was covered under the act, but found that this was a material question of fact suitable for an evidentiary hearing. For that reason, dismissal was inappropriate.

The appellate court therefore reversed and remanded the decision of the circuit court.

Samuel Valerio, et al. v. Moore Landscapes LLC
2020 IL App (1st) 190185
Writing for the court: Justice Bertina E. Lampkin
Concurring: Justices Robert E. Gordon and Eileen O’Neill Burke
Released: March 26, 2020

(Read More)

Worker protection unit formed in attorney general’s office (IL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Journal-Courier
Published 12:48 pm CDT
Monday, August 26, 2019

A new unit in the Illinois Attorney General’s Office will be charged with protecting Illinois workers from unlawful employment practices such as wage theft.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation on Friday that created a Worker Protection Unit.

The law gives the attorney general’s office express authority to investigate and file suit against employers who violate the Prevailing Wage Act, the Employee Classification Act, the Minimum Wage Law, the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act and the Wage Payment and Collection Act.

The new unit will collaborate with the Illinois Department of Labor to detect unlawful conduct. The unit can also take direct legal action against widespread wage payment violations and unfair labor practices.

A Worker Protection Unit Task Force will be created to facilitate information sharing and collaboration between state and local prosecutors and regulators. The task force will also promote a statewide outreach and enforcement effort to target businesses that violate state worker protection laws. The task force will report on its work to the governor and the General Assembly by December 2020.

The bill takes effect Jan. 1.

(See Article)

10 laborers getting $170K in back pay after state finds company short-changed them on construction job (NJ)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By: Kevin Shea, for NJ.com
August 9, 2019

Ten construction workers will split a $170,000 settlement with a company the state says underpaid them while working on a construction job at a Trenton senior living community.

The company, Tri County Real Estate Maintenance Co., of Carneys Point, is also paying $30,000 in administrative fees and penalties, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday.

The project at the Trent Center East and West apartments on Greenwood Avenue in Trenton received tax credit incentive funding, through the State Economic Redevelopment and Growth program, and was subject to New Jersey’s prevailing wage laws.

A state Labor Department investigation, sent to the agency by the U.S. Department of Labor, found Tri County underpaid the laborers.

In this case, laborers stated they were paid between $15 and $30 per hour, but the prevailing wage rate was $55.37 per hour for a laborer, the state said.

The state’s Prevailing Wage Act provides level wages for workers on public works projects – to protect workers and prevent unfair labor competition. The rates vary by county and trade, the state says.

“Public contracting is not a right – it is a privilege,” Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said in a statement. “We want all employers to know that our department takes the state’s prevailing wage laws seriously, and we will continue to investigate these matters to protect our taxpayers’ investments.”

(See Article)

Defender of the Prevailing Wage Act speaks up

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

It has become accepted among several elected and politically appointed officials to spout how much better we would be without unions to hold us back. Recently, in Pennsylvania, there was a movement attempting to pass a resolution that would allow school districts and municipalities to exempt themselves from the Prevailing Wage Act of Aug. 15, 1961. The original Act was instituted to protect local wages and standards that were negotiated for the benefit of the territory that they covered. This Act standardized wages and benefits on public work projects, so out-of-state contractors could not, unfairly, underbid local contractors that support local worker

(Read More)