| www.labor.mo.gov | August 2010 |
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Missouri Prevailing Wage Rates Determined for State Highways and Transportation Construction Projects
General Wage Order No. 54 contains prevailing wage rates for each county and the city of St. Louis for the following occupations: laborer, truck driver teamster, operating engineer, carpenter, traffic control service driver, cement mason, iron worker, electrician- inside wireman, electrician- outside, and painter. The prevailing wages set out in the General Wage Order are the minimum rates that must be paid to workers on all Missouri State Highways and Transportation construction projects. “The Prevailing Wage Law promotes and protects economic stability, by ensuring that local wages are not undercut by desperate out-of-state workers.” says Department of Labor Director Larry Rebman. “It is crucial during these tough economic times that Missouri’s tax dollars support local workers that shop and pay taxes in Missouri.” The Division of Labor Standards is responsible for gathering wage information from public and private construction projects statewide on an ongoing basis from contractors, labor organizations and public entities. The Division uses this wage information to determine the most common, or prevailing, wage rates paid to workers in each construction occupation for every Missouri county and the city of St. Louis. The actual wage rate that has been paid over the greatest number of hours in a county for a particular occupational title becomes the prevailing wage rate in that county for the occupational title. Each year on or before July 1, the Division files a General Wage Order with the Secretary of State with a 30 day objection period. If there are no objections, the prevailing wage rates established by the Division are final. In addition to the ten occupational titles examined by the Division in preparing the General Wage Order applicable to highway projects, the Division also issues annual wage orders each spring that apply to the twenty-six occupational titles that can be involved in all other types of public construction projects. From July of 2009 to July of 2010, the Division received 436 prevailing wage complaints and found 125 violations. Contractors that do not pay the required prevailing wage rates to their workers are subject to $100.00 per day penalty per unpaid worker. Cases in which the Division determines contractors have willfully violated the prevailing wage law are referred to the local prosecuting attorney who may then file criminal charges against the contractor for up to $500 per violation, six months in jail, or both. In addition, when contractors are convicted or have pled guilty to violating the prevailing wage law, the Division will file notice with the Secretary of State to debar the contractor from working on any public works project. To view the General Wage Order No. 54 or for additional information, please visit http://www.labor.mo.gov/DLS/PrevailingWage/gwo.asp. Employees on public works projects who are not receiving prevailing wage rates should file a complaint by filling out the complaint form, http://www.labor.mo.gov/dls/Forms/PW-6-AI.pdf or calling (573) 751-3403. |
The Missouri Labor Department’s Division of Labor Standards announced that General Wage Order No. 54 is now in effect establishing the new prevailing wage rates for use on all Missouri State Highways and Transportation construction projects.