Construction Materials

Department of Labor seeking input from North Carolina highway construction industry for wage survey to establish prevailing wage rates RALEIGH, NC – The Department of Labor is encouraging employers and stakeholders in North Carolina’s highway construction industry to participate in a statewide survey to help its Wage and Hour Division establish prevailing wage rates for construction workers on federally funded and assisted construction projects.The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts require the department to set the prevailing wage rates that reflect the actual wages and fringe benefits paid to construction workers in the county where the work occurs. This survey requests information about wages paid by employers on highway construction projects in North Carolina where construction occurred from May 20, 2023, to Aug. 20, 2024. Not limited to federally funded construction projects, survey findings are critical to the publication of prevailing wage and fringe benefit rates that ...

Statement by Acting Secretary Su on announcement of construction of two new semiconductor fabrication sites in New York WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary Julie Su today issued the following statement on the announcement that the Biden-Harris administration’s CHIPS and Science Act and its Investing in America agenda have resulted in Micron Technology Inc. announcing the construction of two new fabrication facilities, which are expected to create more than 70,000 jobs:“For President Biden, ‘made in America’ is not a slogan – it’s an economic strategy. Today’s announcement is helping to bring that strategy to life with an investment in Micron, a company that is building two new fabrication facilities so that the semiconductors that power everything from electric vehicles to cell phones to satellites, are made right here at home, creating more than 70,000 jobs.  “Micron is not just a company on the cutting edge of the semiconductor industry; it’s also leading the way forward on pro-w...

Department of Labor adds 16 new large federally funded projects to program promoting equal access to good jobs created by Investing in America agenda WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced the addition of 16 large infrastructure projects, funded through the Biden-Harris administration’s $2 trillion Investing in America agenda, to the Mega Construction Project Program.The department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs launched the “Megaproject” Program in March 2023. It aims to foster equal opportunity in the construction trades’ workforce and expand access to the millions of good jobs being created by large federal or federally assisted construction projects valued at $35 million or more and that last more than one year.“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to building a workforce that looks like America—and the Megaproject Program is all about us putting our money where our mouths are,” said Acting Secretary Julie Su. “Under Presi...

Department of Labor will offer online wage seminars in May, August on prevailing wage requirements for federally funded projects WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced its Wage and Hour Division will offer contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders opportunities in May or August to attend an online seminar on meeting federal requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.Part of the continuing effort by the division to increase awareness and improve compliance, the day-long seminars will offer sessions on the labor standards protections in the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act, including how the department sets and administers prevailing wages and other topics. Participants can choose from several sessions to get the information they need. “Prevailing wage laws empower workers by ensuring that federally funded construction and service jobs are good jobs with...

Tamuning contractor faces $1M in penalties after federal inspectors find employees again exposed to potentially fatal trench hazards TIYAN, GUAM ‒ A contractor with a history of failing to protect employees working in trenches from potentially deadly harm faces penalties of more than $1 million after federal investigators found employees working in trenches deeper than 5 feet without required safety equipment. Trench collapses are among the construction industry’s most serious dangers. Excavations can collapse in seconds and lead to serious and often fatal injuries as workers are buried under cubic yards of soil, each weighing as much as 3,000 lbs. In 2022, trench collapses killed at least 39 U.S. construction workers. Despite these dangers, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration discovered employees of Giant Construction Corp., a Tamuning contractor, installing sewer lines in multiple trenches at a worksite in the Palisades Subdivis...

US Department of Labor cites 2 Florida construction contractors after finding lack of crane safety protocols led to 37-year-old employee’s fatal injuries ORLANDO, FL – Federal workplace safety investigators have determined that a Tampa-area construction contractor could have prevented a 37-year-old aerial lift operator from suffering fatal injuries after being struck by a boom as a crane tipped over during work on an Orlando highway ramp in October 2023.Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the incident occurred while employees of Concrete Impressions of Florida Inc. in Tampa and Adcock Cranes Inc. in Plant City installed precast concrete sound barrier panels on the southbound SR-417 ramp. OSHA determined the Concrete Impressions operator was working in an aerial lift as a 10,700-pound panel was being lifted into place by an Adcock Cranes employee. During the process, an outrigger gave way and tipped th...

Federal court orders 4 Arizona contractors to pay over $3.2M in owed wages, damages to 890 workers after Department of Labor investigations PHOENIX – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that efforts to protect residential construction workers from unlawful pay practices have recovered a total of $3.2 million in wages and damages from four Arizona contractors for 890 workers.After a series of investigations, the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that 4-E Painting LLC and Liberty Constructors LLC in Mesa and BCK Coatings Inc. and Geronimo Wall Systems LLC in Tempe willfully and recklessly shortchanged the affected workers and violated the overtime and minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.The division’s investigations found:4-E Painting LLC did not pay overtime wages when the employer paid employees piece-rate wages for painting work or a combination of hourly wages and piece-rate wages. The division determined 4-E Painting owed $432,633 in ov...