by The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is offering free online compliance seminars for federal contractors and other stakeholders regarding the recently amended regulations enforcing wage rate rules under the Davis-Bacon Act and related laws. The Act and related laws govern the minimum wage rate (i.e., prevailing wage) mandated for certain construction workers on federally funded projects. The seminars will be held on September 13 and 14, 2023, from noon to 2 p.m. CDT.
For more than a year, the DOL has been working on updates to the prevailing wage requirements for laborers and mechanics employed on federally funded construction projects. In May 2022, the agency published its proposed rule changes for public comment. On August 8, 2023, the DOL published its final rule for public review. The updates make significant adjustments to how prevailing wages are determined. Changes include:
- Reverting to a definition of “prevailing wage” used prior to 1982 that is likely to increase the influence of union wages in the rate determination;
- Addressing when the DOL may adopt state or local wage determinations as the federal prevailing wage;
- Allowing wage determinations to include supplemental rates for key classifications when insufficient survey data exists to publish prevailing wage rates;
- Expanding the scope of what kind of projects are covered by the regulations; and
- Strengthening enforcement of the rules by providing new anti-retaliation provisions.
The seminars will help federal construction contractors and subcontractors determine how the changes affect their obligations. The link to registration for either seminar can be found at https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20230811.
