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One of the most common questions we get asked about prevailing wage construction is how to make an accurate prevailing wage rate determination; or, stated differently, how do you know if you’re using the correct wage decision? Honestly, given how crucial this little detail is, it’s amazing how misunderstood this is given that paying the correct prevailing wage rate is no trivial matter! If you’re using the wrong prevailing wage calculations, it means you’re either over or underpaying your employees.

A number of times since it’s passage, the Davis Bacon and Related Acts have been suspended by executive order.

A few weeks ago, we offered a perspective on the Republican party’s silence regarding prevailing wage laws, in general, and the federal Davis-Bacon Act, in particular.   In this post we want to take a different view – that of the Democratic party and the challenges it faces in dealing with prevailing wage rates.

We all need help staying up-to-date on evolving rules for Davis-Bacon compliance. While the Davis Bacon law has no doubt resulted in lucrative public works opportunities for contractors, it is not without its regulatory land mines! With that in mind, Jeff VanderWal has drafted a review of new guidelines that will directly affect all prevailing wage contractors working on a federal Davis-Bacon job!

Just in time for the 4th of July holiday, a little light and fluffy for our Davis Bacon and prevailing wage friends! We hope you'll get a laugh. We did!

10. Complicated Davis-Bacon act wage determinations give purpose to childhood secret decoder rings

9. That warm fuzzy feeling you get after filing your DAS 140 / DAS 142 Forms (for California Prevailing Wage fringe benefits)

8. Reading Davis-Bacon rules a proven cure for insomnia!

Anyone involved in prevailing wage contracting knows that there is no better example of Government intervention in free markets than the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

Once in a while a contractor complains to me that an outside organization is harvesting employees’ personal information from the company’s certified payroll records submitted (as required in law in California Labor Code Section 1776) to a local government agency.  Sometimes the employees are contacted because union-affiliated Joint Labor-Management Committees have legally obtained employee addresses in certified payroll records.

On April 6, 2010, President Obama recorded a Memorandum in the Federal Register. Directed to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, the stated goal of the Memorandum is to improve transparency while also reducing waste, fraud and abuse in Federal contracting. You can read the Memorandum in its entity by clicking this link: Federal Register, Combating Noncompliance with Recovery Act Reporting Requirements

Unless you've been hiding under a rock or living on another planet, you are no doubt aware that Health Care Reform legislation was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010.  As you likely also know, this new legislation promises to bring many changes to our health care system over the next several years.  Some of these changes will occur immediately, some over the course of the rest of the year, some in 2011, 2012, 2013.  2014 will bring a host of changes and some items are scheduled as far out as 2018.

In my last entry, I provided a top level discussion of what an S Corporation is.  Here I will provide an example to show how important electing S Corporation status could be when you look to sell your business to an outside buyer.