Supreme Court Adopts Liberal Interpretation of Prevailing Wage Statute
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