The Connecticut State Senate advanced legislation that would withhold payments from contractors who break state laws regarding fair pay to their workers, seeking to uphold state standards.
On a 27-8 vote, the Senate advanced S.B. 1488, “An Act Authorizing The Comptroller To Withhold Payment For Violations Of The Prevailing Wage Statutes,” which next goes to the House for further action.
“The state shouldn’t be paying on a state project when the contractor has violated state law and has ceased working,” said Sen. Julie Kushner, Senate chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, as she led the Senate’s bipartisan passage of the bill.
The bill allows the state commissioner of labor to notify the comptroller when she issues a stop work order against a contractor or subcontractor if they have committed a prevailing wage violation on a project.
The prevailing wage law requires contractors and subcontractors who accept certain public works project contracts to pay hired construction workers wages and benefits equal to customary or typical wages for the same work in the same occupation and same town.
The new policy, if signed into law, applies to new construction projects costing more than $1 million and renovation projects costing at least $100,000.
Upon the comptroller receiving that notice from the Department of Labor, he can withhold payment to the contractor in question until the stop work order is released, the contractor pays penalties on wage-related law violations or penalties, or the parties involved finalize a settlement agreement.
In public testimony, Commissioner of Labor Danté Bartolomeo gave support to the bill for its ability to protect the rights of Connecticut workers. While most employers who receive stop work orders comply quickly to resume their regular business, “some bad actors repeatedly violate wage laws throughout a project, or from project to project over time.”
She added the law will serve as a strong deterrent to wage theft and lead to better compliance with state laws.
Testimony submitted by the SEIU CT State Council was more punctual, noting the bill’s changes should have been included in original prevailing wage statutes.
“If you break the law, you should not be paid,” the testimony read. “Wage theft should not be rewarded.”
The AFL-CIO also provided support to the bill, noting that understaffing at the Department of Labor led to more than 800 complaints that went without investigation in the early 2020s.
“This bill would be an effective wage theft deterrent by letting state contractors know that they will be held accountable,” said AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne.
In recent years, the Senate passed bills to strengthen penalties against contractors who refuse to pay employees prevailing wages or who fail to maintain workers’ compensation insurance. The legislation also broadened the Labor Department’s authority to issue stop work orders in instances when prevailing wages aren’t paid and increased civil penalties for violations of the law.
