{from an Associated Press article}
A note from Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. – Prevailing Wage requirements also require the submission of “certified payroll reports” on a weekly basis.
Gov’t stimulus projects include wage requirements
By SCOTT BAUER – 23 hours ago
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Welders, bricklayers and other construction workers under the U.S. government’s $787 billion stimulus law would earn significantly higher wages in some areas than crews on private, non-stimulus projects.
Wage rules in the law are a potential bonus to workers’ wallets but they’re upsetting contractors who say it will increase their costs and reduce the numbers of projects that can be funded.
Tucked within the 407-page law is a requirement that laborers and mechanics employed on government stimulus projects be paid “prevailing wages,” which is defined as the salary and fringe benefits for corresponding work on similar projects in the area. The prevailing wage is usually on par with union wages and higher than the average wages for the same category of employees in the same county.
For bricklayers in Madison, for example, the “prevailing wage” is $30.61 per hour but the average bricklayer there earns $25.77 per hour, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Working 40 hours per week over one year, a bricklayer under the prevailing wage would earn $10,000 more. The prevailing wage for cement workers is $29.78 per hour in Madison, compared to the average cement worker wages there of just $20.80 per hour – an annual difference of $18,678.
Major U.S. government construction projects have required contractors to pay prevailing wages since 1931, but the Labor Department has acknowledged that the stimulus law will apply the same wage standard to certain projects that previously weren’t covered. It plans to release new instructions but hasn’t said when that might happen.
“The point of the stimulus was to turn our economy around by creating jobs,” said Jacob Hay, a spokesman for the Laborers International Union of North America, the construction workers union. “That will only happen if the jobs created are good jobs with fair wages that spread paychecks throughout local communities.”
Labor groups – which have overwhelmingly supported President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress who voted for the stimulus law – are pleased. But contractors and home builders said they were worried about rising costs on stimulus projects, including plans to improve the energy efficiency of homes owned by low-income people.
“It’s not clear the full extent to which it will be applied into areas in which it (the prevailing wage) has never been utilized,” said Josh Ulman, a consultant for Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade group.
Another trade group, the National Association of Homebuilders, said it will jack up costs, reducing the number of homes that will benefit from $5 billion in weatherization upgrades. Only a small number of its 200,000 residential homebuilders pay the prevailing wage, spokeswoman Jenna Hamilton said. Most homebuilders aren’t unionized and have never dealt with the prevailing wage requirements, she said.
“It’s hard to tell right now how it’s all going to work,” she said.
The new stimulus legislation means changes to payroll no later than April 1, 2009.
{This information is from Intuit’s website and posted here for your information. Visit Intuit’s payroll website for additional information.}
What does the stimulus plan mean to your business?
New payroll tax credits and COBRA provisions will mean changes to how you handle payroll taxes and quarterly tax filings. The IRS asks that employers calculate federal withholding and advance earned income credit payments with new tables just issued as soon as possible, but no later than April 1st, 2009.
Why not let Intuit Payroll handle the burden of tracking these changes so you can focus on running your business?
Over one million small businesses trust us to do just that already, more than any other payroll service.
With Intuit Payroll:
- Keep up with changes. Intuit Payroll’s team of compliance professionals works with tax authorities to get ahead of changing requirements and deliver the latest tax rates, tax forms (for services that include forms) and compliance information to our customers
- Be confident your payroll is in compliance. In 2008 alone, Intuit Payroll delivered over 490 compliance rule updates to customers. We worry about keeping up with changing payroll requirements, so you don’t have to!
- Get every penny of the payroll tax credit you deserve. The stimulus legislation provides up to $400 of payroll tax credits per eligible individual or $800 per couple. For as little as $100 per year for Basic Payroll service, Intuit can help you make sure that eligible employees get the tax credit dollars they’re entitled to.
A payroll update is scheduled for mid-March and will include important changes resulting from the new legislation. For more information, visit Intuit’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 webpage.
