California’s Prevailing Wage Law dates back to the 1930s and was designed to establish the right of laborers on public works projects to be compensated at a level in keeping with the prevailing rate in the locality in which any work was to be completed. The underlying rationale was to discourage employers from hiring workers from outside the immediate area who were willing to accept lower pay. The Davis-Bacon Act is the federal counterpart to California’s statute, and many federal programs are subject to its wage requirements.
Recent years have seen the specific realms subject to prevailing wage laws expand dramatically, giving many workers the ability to demand high wages on essentially any type of construction project in the state. Projects that would traditionally have been categorized as private now regularly fall into the public classification and thus require payment of established prevailing wages. Therefore, developers, contractors and others can end up in the unenviable position of suddenly having to pay prevailing wages they did not anticipate.
To prevent unpleasant surprises in the form of unpaid wage claims, costly penalties and the obligation to pay the opposing party’s legal fees, a skilled attorney can help clients carefully design and organize their projects from the earliest stage so that there is no doubt concerning the applicability of these statutes to the work that is to be performed. Further, should wage enforcement actions or laborer lawsuits ultimately be brought, aggressive defenses can be constructed to minimize the potential financial fallout.
With more than 30 years of experience in construction law and business litigation, the LAW OFFICE OF MITCHELL B. HANNAH has provided clients with an unrivaled level of personalized service. Enterprises facing wage claims stemming from California or federal statutory provisions can turn to us for the aggressive representation necessary to obtain the most beneficial outcome possible.