The Edelson Lechtzin LLP law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of construction workers who allege that their employer, North-East Deck & Steel Supply, failed to pay them prevailing wages on public works projects and required them to perform off-the-clock tasks that resulted in unpaid overtime.
What are “prevailing wages”?
Prevailing wages are the minimum hourly rate that companies working on publicly funded construction projects must pay workers in a particular geographic area.
Public works projects funded by $25,000 or more of state funds are subject to Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Act. Public works projects that receive more than $2,000 in federal funds are subject to the Davis-Bacon Act.
When a contractor is awarded a public works project subject to the PWA or the DBA, the contractor agrees that it will pay its workers in accordance with prevailing wage laws.
What are the plaintiffs’ claims?
The Class Action Complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, asserts claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq., the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, 43 P.S. § 165-1, et seq., and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment Collection Law, 43 P.S. § 260.1, et seq. Plaintiffs also assert common law causes of action for breach of contract, restitution, and unjust enrichment.
How did this happen?
A prevailing wage schedule is generated in conjunction with every public works project. The prevailing wage schedule sets forth each job classification and the hourly wage applicable to that job for the Project.
The plaintiffs claim that North-East has engaged in a “systematic and clandestine scheme” of wage theft by misclassifying jobs performed by the company’s employees. In this case, both plaintiffs worked as crane operators and should have been paid under the job classification for such work. However, North-East shortchanged the plaintiffs by paying them the lower hourly rate for iron workers.
North-East paid the fringe benefits portion of the plaintiffs’ wages as though they were independent contractors, in violation of the prevailing wage laws. By misclassifying the plaintiffs as non-employee independent contractors, North-East avoided paying its portion of payroll taxes on the fringe benefit component of the plaintiffs’ hourly wages.
Finally, the Complaint alleges that North-East refused to pay Plaintiffs and similarly situated prevailing wage workers for any time over forty (40) hours per week, even though the company was aware that the plaintiffs spent a minimum of two-and-a-half hours per week performing pre-shift safety checks, which should have been paid at an overtime rate. Instead, the company required the plaintiffs to perform this essential work entirely off-the-clock.
The case is Lipinski et al. v. North-East Deck & Steel Supply LLC, case number 5:25-cv-01467, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.