The U.S. Department of Labor is looking to update its rules governing how contractors are paid when working on federally funded construction projects in what would amount to the largest overhaul of Davis-Bacon Act regulations in four decades.
The proposed changes announced Friday would change how the agency enforces the 1931 law that requires workers to receive “prevailing wages,” or pay and benefits equal to local rates for similar jobs, when working on projects funded by the federal government.
“The goal of course with this is to make sure that the Davis-Bacon regulations are reflecting our modern construction industry and our modern construction needs,” Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman said in an exclusive interview Thursday ahead of the rulemaking announcement. The DOL also is “making sure that the prevailing wages that are paid to construction workers on federal construction projects are aligned with the local construction wages in the communities where federal construction projects are occurring.”
DOL calculates the “prevailing wage” through a survey process and designates a rate as “prevailing” if more than 50% of workers in a certain area are paid at that amount. If DOL doesn’t receive enough responses, the agency averages the rates for a particular job in a specific area, and requires construction...
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