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When are subcontractors not subject to prevailing wage rates?

Is there ever a time when subcontractors would not be paid prevailing wage? We were hired to do crane work on a ODOT facility and the general contractor is claiming he does not have to turn in payroll hours for us, therefore, we cannot charge him prevailing wage rates.

1 reply

Oct 4, 2019

Ultimately, this sounds like it comes down to a classification dispute - meaning, it'd come down to whether a worker is considered a subcontractor or an employee. A contractor is required to submit a certified payroll ensuring that they've paid their employees prevailing wages. However, subcontractors are required to submit their own certified payroll reports. So, if workers are considered employees - they'd be paid prevailing wages from their contractor, and they'd be included in the contractor's certified payroll reporting. But, if workers are independent contractors, they'd be responsible for their own report and the contractor, themselves, wouldn't be the one required to pay the workers for the subcontractor prevailing wages. However, the contractor would be responsible for providing their sub with a schedule of the applicable prevailing wages.

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