by On June 24, 2024, a Texas federal district court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction to keep the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing some of the provisions of the agency’s changes to the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) regulations. The DBA provides that all laborers and mechanics employed by federal contractors and subcontractors on federal projects must be paid the prevailing wage determined by the DOL. In 2023, the DOL made several regulatory changes, including redefining how prevailing wages would be determined and extending coverage of the law to groups previously not considered subject to the Act.
The court reasoned that the DOL had overreached when it issued rules extending the coverage of the DBA. The court took issue with a provision of the regulation that applied DBA prevailing wage requirements to projects operating under contracts that do not expressly include such requirements. The court also ruled that the DOL had unlawfully changed the DBA by extending its coverage to trucking operations.
The court determined that the plaintiffs in the case would likely win and that implementation of the new rules would cause irreparable harm. Therefore, the court enjoined enforcement of the rules during the pending litigation.
It should be noted that the district court decision in this case was made before the U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 28, 2024, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, ending the deference shown to federal agency interpretations supporting regulatory changes. This deference, known as the Chevron Doctrine, has given federal agencies an advantage when regulations have been challenged in the courts. The Loper decision further reduces the DOL’s likelihood of winning the Texas case.
