Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Our company is a subcontractor for the general contractor on a variety of Government assisted (public works) projects. We are not a union shop so my employer is aware that prevailing wage must be paid in order for us to be considered for the work. I am the only on site installer from our company and I have been so for 8 years for this company and I have 25 years experience. I am concerned that my employer is not following the rules and I feel that I have lost a lot of money over the years. I have just recently started researching prevailing wage laws and this is what my employer does that I don't get.
1) I recieve my regular pay for work done on these projects in the correct pay period. My employer tells me that I don't recieve the prevailing wage until they are paid from the contractor. This has created confusion as I am not informed when they get paid and when I am given any amount of money they don't tell me what project it was for. I have had to ask for the money when I had knowledge of their being paid.
2) My classification is as Carpenter. Over the last couple of years the checks I would recieve have gotten smaller and less frequent. I found out that somewhere along the line they were classifying me as a laborer.
3) The contractors beg my boss to submit certified payroll. There are times when he didn't know how many hours or when work was done and he would just put 8 hours.
4) It is my feeling that the method of handling this is designed to get around paying me money I have earned. Instead of paying my first when they recieve payment I am last if at all. They tell me this is the way its done. Any thoughts
1 Answer from Attorneys
You are supposed to be paid prevailing wage at the time you get your paycheck. Classification issues are tricky, but unless your work has changed, or you were doing laborer work all along and they were overpaying you, classifying you as a laborer is illegal. Falsifying a certified payroll is a crime. They are right that "this is the way it is done," until they get caught. I have nearly 25 years in public works construction law, and my in last job before returning to private practice I was the San Francisco Deputy City Attorney in charge of Construction and Public Works for San Francisco Intl. Airport. So if you would like help filing claims for back pay, we can go back at least four years.
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