Third Runway Dispute Tests Jurisdictional Reach of Prevailing Wage Law
The prevailing wage dispute at issue in this case to be heard this term by the Supreme Court is whether truck drivers who delivered fill material to the location where it was used in the Sea-Tac Third Runway Embankment Project were entitled to local prevailing wages under RCW 39.12.020 because they thereby participated in the "incorporation" of the delivered materials into the project. See WAC 296-127-018(2)(a). The Court of Appeals said no, and thereby relieved the dirt subcontractors from having to pay the prevailing wage rates.
The case, Silverstreak, Inc. v. Dep’t of L&I, will be argued January 24, 2006. The drivers in question appear to have used the so-called "end-dump" delivery method, as opposed to "belly-dump" or "spreader box" methods. The Court concluded the "end-dump" method was not enough to trigger the prevailing wage law under the "incorporation" test.