PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION WORKERS METROPOLITAN STATE HOSPITAL NORWALK PREVAILING WAGE PAY

Private construction workers must be paid prevailing wage if they are working on the expansion of the Metropolitan state hospital in Norwalk. If a jobsite is owned by the County, or State of California prevailing wage rates set by the Director of Industrial Relations (DIR) are the rates of pay a building contractor must pay its private construction workers. The Norwalk construction project provides for 70 beds of interim housing, and additional subacute patient beds. In total, 150 new beds are being created at this mental health facility run by the County of Los Angeles, and funded by the State of California. This is a large construction project. There will be some contractors who fail to pay their employees prevailing wage.

Construction workers who need to sue for a lack of prevailingwage pay should call 877-525-0700 for a California law firm that has a track record in the field. Most employee labor lawyers do not handle prevailing wage pay cases. The Employment Lawyers Group does throughout the State of California.

Construction Worker Tip: If you were fired because you complained about sloppy, but not necessarily illegal work that is not wrongful termination. However, if you complained the employer did something illegal such as working without a permit or not trenching deep enough and lying to the city inspector, those are situations that could be wrongful termination if either or both are the reason(s) why the employee was fired.

THE BASICS OF CALIFORNIA PREVAILING WAGE LAW

In general, prevailing wage pay applies for workers on construction projects over $1,000 if the facility being worked on is owned by the government. Construction maintenance contracts on government buildings are most likely also prevailing wage jobs. California prevailing wage law applies if the property is owned or leased by a city, county, the state, or a special governmental district. If a large amount of construction funding comes from one of these branches of government, prevailing wage pay laws may apply.

California prevailing wage actions may be brought by attorneys. These lawsuits can be privately filed by employees through attorneys. Federal prevailing wage actions can only be pursued by the Federal Labor Commissioner. Federal prevailing wage cases involve work on a federal jobsite. 

Prevailing wage construction projects should be registered with the DIR. Many are not. It is then up to an attorney to find the proper prevailing wage rate for a client, and sue.  Wage determinations have been made by the DIR for many types of building construction from tile work to elevator work. However, the DIR has probably not made a determination for every trade in every county.  Lawsuits may involve which rate applies. For example, many contractors attempt to pay low voltage rates when the work is not necessarily low voltage. There are also many rates for different plumbing work.

PREVAILING WAGE CASE RESULTS

The Employment Lawyers Group has represented many individuals, groups of employees, and even handled class actions for prevailing wages. Some of their results include:

• $800,000 for prevailing wage pay for workers in many different trades
• $350,000 in a small class action for prevailing wage pay
• $200,000 for two heavy equipment operators in a prevailing wage case