Inquiry of the Week (10/18/99)

Question

Is the county required to pay federal or state prevailing wages on a road project which utilizes federal funds?

Answer:

Generally, when you receive federal funds for a project the loan or grant documents will indicate whether state or federal prevailing wage law should apply. Most commonly, the documents contain a provision that the recipient must require all contractors and subcontractors on the project to pay wages at rates not less than those prevailing for the same type of work on similar construction in the immediate locality, in compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C., sec. 276a-7) or state requirements, whichever is more stringent.

The Washington State Administrative Code, WAC 296-127-025, provides the following for the applicability of joint federal-state standards:

(1) When a public works project is subject to the provisions of the Washington state public works law, chapter 39.12 RCW, and the Federal Davis-Bacon and related acts, the contractor and every subcontractor on that project must pay at least the Washington state prevailing wage rates, if they are higher than the federal prevailing wage rates for the project unless specifically preempted by federal law.

(2) When the federal prevailing wage rates are higher than the Washington state prevailing wage rates, the contractor shall pay the federal rate as required by federal law.

What this means is that if both federal and state prevailing wages apply to the project, the one which provides the higher wage controls.

Both the federal and state rates can be obtained from the Washington State Revolving Fund Coordinator, Brian Howard (Dept. of Ecology). He can be reached at 360-407-6510 or e-mail: brho461@ecy.wa.gov. Federal wage rates can be obtained from the regional office of the Department of Labor (in San Francisco) at 415-975-4555, but there is a charge for obtaining the information.