Washington Construction Law Blog

This case won't win any prizes for ease of comprehension, that's for sure.  But it does finally settle the issue of what pay classification certain electricians fell into at the McCaw Hall opera job.  Were the workers who pulled low voltage wire of lengths greater than 10 feet "inside wiremen" (higher prevailing wage pay classification) or "electronic technicians" (lower PW rate)?  The workers won.  Check out the Court's reasoning here.

There's a bill introduced in Olympia to change the definition of "public works" in RCW 39.04.010 to include work performed by architects, engineers and consultants -- and to extend this requirement specifically to port districts.

Update:  This bill has been withdrawn.  Its sponsor plans to introduce a new version scaling back its scope to CM and Project Management services, and requiring only that such services be procured on a best value-type negotiated solicitiation.

In this classification dispute over the rate of pay for certain electricians, the Court of Appeals examines the ins & outs of how L&I drafts new proposed regulations.  Not exactly a scientific process, to say the least.  In any event, given the remedial purpose of the Act, it is not surprising the Court sided in favor of paying the electricans the higher of the two possible rates.

Copy of opinion also available here Download file

More than a year after oral argument, the Supreme Court today finally decided the SeaTac Third Runway prevailing wage case known as Silverstreak.   Background on the case is available here. 

By a 6-3 vote, the Court held that truck drivers who merely dump fill onto an embankment -- but who don't otherwise spread, level or roll the material -- are nonetheless entitled to be paid the prevailing wage rates. 

The Court suggested that prevailing wages would not apply, however, if the truck drivers merely dumped the fill in a central stockpile located on site.

The Court's liberal interpretation of the scope of the prevailing wage statute, driven largely by the Court's deference to L&I policy judgment, must be carefully reviewed by material suppliers and general contractors who rely on quotes from material suppliers.  (The suppliers in Silverstreak only dodged the bullet here because of the Court, on unusual facts, held that L&I was estopped from enforcing the broad reach of the statute in this particular case because the suppliers had relied on prior administrative letters from L&I stating that the wage rates would not apply to end-dump truck drivers)

Copy of lead opinion also available here Download file

How far do the prevailing wage rules go when a government entity teams up with a private developer to build a public/private project?  It's a question on the minds of many developers.  Under this Oregon ruling, the prevailing wage rules stop where the public part of the money stops -- here, the construction of a hotel with private funds was exempt from prevailing wage rules even though the hotel was built on the same block and by the same contractor as the public component (a convention center).