GOSHEN – Orange County
District Attorney David Hoovler has reminded municipal officials of the
requirement to pay “prevailing wages” to work working on public
works projects. That wage is the minimum an employee can be paid on a
public works project as wet by the state Department of Labor.
The prevailing wage for each trade is determined by the wage negotiated
in a given locality between labor organizations and private sector employers
that high at least 30 percent of workers in the same trade.
Hoovler said that usually contractors on public works projects are selected
after a competitive bidding process. Aside from cheating employees, the
failure to pay prevailing gives unscrupulous contractors the ability to
submit lower bids than honest contractors. “That is grossly unfair
to competing, honest contractors, who play by the rules,” the DA
told the official.
