USDOL Taking Even Tougher Stance to Ensure Prevailing Wage Compliance

A recent news release from the USDOL reveals that the agency is taking new measures to ensure that general contractors and their subs comply with federal prevailing wage law. Mike Rogers, Chief Compliance Officer for The Contractors Plan, says, “Ensuring that subs comply with Davis-Bacon has always been the responsibility of the GC. The measures the DOL took against Lettire Construction Corporation recently demonstrate that failure to take this responsibility seriously can have severe consequences for all parties involved.”

Rogers says the fact that the DOL required that Lettire hire a monitor approved by its Wage and Hour Department is unusual, but given the breadth of the violations found on the Hobbs and Ciena projects in New York state, not overly punitive. “Another interesting part of this investigation is that the DOL is requiring Lettire to ‘assess bids submitted by its subcontractors on federal prevailing wage projects to ensure that the bid amounts are adequate to ensure financial compliance with the law’. To my knowledge this has not previously been required of any GC.”

The DOL’s news release regarding its consent findings and order against Lettire Construction Corporation and its president, Nicholas Lettire, can be found here.