Labor Unions Continue Push for Even More Expansions to the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act
By Jeffrey A. Risch and Jonathon D. Hoag
In February, the Illinois House introduced a bill that is intended to substantially expand the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act. Remarkably, the bill is moving forward, notwithstanding that the proposal will increase costs on the Illinois Department of Transportation’s construction projects by $10 million for each construction season.
The labor unions have described the pending legislation as an effort to close loopholes in the prevailing wage law. Wrong! The pending legislation seeks to amend the current coverage of the Act. The reality is that the current legislation provides an explicit exception to coverage of the Act, which this pending legislation intends to remove. Quite simply, it is not a loophole when work is excluded from coverage by the Act because the type of work fits squarely within one of the Act’s expressed exceptions!
The Act currently defines those covered by the Act as: “[o]nly such laborers, workers, and mechanics as are directly employed by contractors or subcontractors in actual construction work on the site of the building or construction job, and laborers, workers and mechanics engaged in the transportation of materials and equipment to or from the site, but not including the transportation by the sellers and suppliers or the manufacture or processing of materials or equipment, in the execution of any contract or contracts for public works with any public body shall be deemed to be employed upon public works.”
The pending legislation seeks to dramatically reduce the scope of the exception and thereby expand the Act’s coverage. The proposed amendments would change the Act’s exception to read: Laborers, workers, and mechanics engaged in the transportation of materials and equipment to or from the site shall also be deemed to be employed upon public works, except that the transportation of non-aggregate materials or equipment by the sellers and suppliers or the manufacture or processing of materials or equipment shall not be deemed to be employed upon public works. Of course, the proposed amendment also includes a broad definition of “aggregate or excavated materials,” so the net effect will be that most construction site deliveries will become covered by the Act.
The Act is intended to apply to workers of contractors and subcontractors of publicly-funded construction work. Sellers, suppliers, and manufacturers of materials or equipment delivered to the worksite were excluded from coverage in recognition of the fact that such deliveries were by individuals who were not engaged in construction work on the job site. This is perhaps just the beginning of efforts by the unions to expand prevailing wage requirements beyond those engaged in actual construction work on the job site.
What’s next? An amendment to make the time spent excavating the aggregate material covered by the Act?
If you have questions regarding prevailing wage or any other labor law matter, please contact Jeff Risch at jrisch@salawus.com or Jon Hoag at jhoag@salawus.com.
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