N.Y. Labor Law 231 – Prevailing wage
§ 231. Prevailing wage. 1. Every contractor shall pay a service employee under a contract for building service work a wage of not less than the prevailing wage in the locality for the craft, trade or occupation of the service employee.
Terms Used In N.Y. Labor Law 231
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Contractor: means any employer who employs employees to perform building service work under a contract with a public agency and shall include any of the contractor's subcontractors. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- employee: includes , but is not limited, to, watchman, guard, doorman, building cleaner, porter, handyman, janitor, gardener, groundskeeper, stationary fireman, elevator operator and starter, window cleaner, and occupations relating to the collection of garbage or refuse, and to the transportation of office furniture and equipment, and to the transportation and delivery of fossil fuel but does not include clerical, sales, professional, technician and related occupations. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fiscal officer: means the industrial commissioner, except for building service work performed by or on behalf of a city, in which case "fiscal officer" means the comptroller or other analogous officer of such city. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- Locality: means the state, a town, city, village or other civil division or area of the state as determined by the fiscal officer. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Prevailing wage: means the wage determined by the fiscal officer to be prevailing for the various classes of building service employees in the locality. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- Public agency: means the state, any of its political subdivisions, a public benefit corporation, a public authority or commission or special purpose district board appointed pursuant to law, and a board of education. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- service work: means work performed by a building service employee, but does not include work performed for a contractor under a contract for the furnishing of services by radio, telephone, telegraph or cable companies; and any contract for public utility services, including electric light and power, water, steam and gas. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- supplements: means fringe benefits including medical or hospital care, pensions on retirement or death, compensation for injuries or illness resulting from occupational activity, or insurance to provide any of the foregoing, unemployment benefits, life insurance, disability and sickness insurance, accident insurance, vacation and holiday pay, costs of apprenticeship or other similar programs and other bona fide fringe benefits not otherwise required by federal, state or local law to be provided by the contractor or subcontractor. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
- Wage: includes : (a) basic hourly cash rate of pay; and (b) supplements. See N.Y. Labor Law 230
2. The obligation of a contractor to pay prevailing supplements may be discharged by furnishing any equivalent combinations of fringe benefits or by making equivalent or differential payments in cash under rules and regulations established by the fiscal officer.
3. Each contract for building service work shall contain as part of the specifications thereof a schedule of the wages required to be paid to the various classes of service employees on such work, and each such contract shall further contain a provision obligating the contractor to pay each employee on such work not less than the wage specified for his craft, trade or occupation in such schedule.
4. The public agency, or appropriate officer or agent thereof, whose responsibility it is to prepare or direct the preparation of the plans and specifications for a contract for building service work, shall ascertain from such plans and specifications the classifications of employees to be employed on such work and shall file a list of such classifications with the fiscal officer, together with a statement of the work to be performed. The fiscal officer shall determine the crafts, trades and occupations required for such work and shall make a determination of the wages required to be paid in the locality for each such craft, trade or occupation. A schedule of such wages shall be annexed to and form a part of the specifications for the contract prior to the time of the advertisement for bids on such contract and shall constitute the schedule of wages referred to in subdivision three of this section.
5. Upon the award of a contract for building service work by a public agency other than a city, the contracting public agency shall immediately furnish to the commissioner: (a) the name and address of the contractor to whom the contract was awarded; (b) the date when the contract was awarded; and (c) the approximate consideration stipulated for in the contract.
6. No later than the first day upon which work on said contract is performed by any employee, the contractor shall post in a prominent and accessible place on the site of the work a legible statement of the wages to be paid to the workmen employed thereon.
7. (a) An apprentice in a craft or trade may be permitted to work at a wage lower than that established for the journeymen in such craft or trade only if all of the following conditions have been met:
(1) such apprentice has been individually registered in an apprenticeship program which is duly registered with the industrial commissioner in conformity with the provisions of article twenty-three of this chapter;
(2) such apprentice's registration occurred prior to his employment as an apprentice on such service work; and
(3) written proof of such individual registration is submitted to the contracting public agency prior to such apprentice's employment as an apprentice. The proof submitted shall include evidence of the appropriate ratios and apprentice's wage rates.
(b) In no event shall the ratio of apprentices to journeymen employed on such service work be greater than the lesser of the following ratios:
(1) the ratio permitted in the apprenticeship program approved by the industrial commissioner; or
(2) the ratio prevailing in the locality where the service work will be performed.
(c) The rate of wages established for apprentices shall be the prevailing rate as determined in accordance with this article.