06Apr 2009 by Nancy Smyth

Construction Workers on “stimulus” projects will receive prevailing wages

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News
And contractors will be required to complete and submit certified payroll reports. {From an article in the Washington Independent written by Jefferson Morley on 3/31/09} Though stymied on the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to form unions, organized labor is about to claim a big consolation prize: the massive application of a law guaranteeing "prevailing wages" for hundreds of thousands of construction workers hired under President Obama's economic stimulus program. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is now preparing guidelines that will expand the scope of the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, according to a department spokesperson. "In some cases, the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions will apply to federal construction contracts in the same manner as they currently apply," said spokesperson Dolline Hatchett in an email. "In…
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27Feb 2009 by Nancy Smyth

3 Key Steps for Shifting to Public Works Projects

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage
From Construction Business Owner.com - written by Russ Roy - February 2oo9 edition Note from Nancy Smyth:  Monte TenEyek, the consultant noted in this article, obviously didn't do his homework regarding QuickBooks.  QuickBooks Pro/Premier has the ability to handle 25 active payroll wage items per employee and the Enterprise Solutions version can handle 100 per employee.  If you add QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll you can track worker's compensation. Read our own article on "Making the Move to Public Works Construction" from our December 2008 QuickBooks for Contractors Newsletter, by clicking here. With the burst housing bubble and tighter private financing guidelines, more and more contractors are considering public works projects as a new source of revenue. On the surface, this seems like a great idea. Talks of a possible federal stimulus…
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09Jan 2009 by Nancy Smyth

New Federal WH-347 Reporting Mandates Effective 1/18/09

Construction News, The "Sunburst" Website
IMPORTANT Revisions to U.S. Department of Labor/Federal WH-347 Reporting Mandates Regarding Protecting the Privacy of Workers. January 9, 2009 Affected Audience: All prime/general contractors and subcontractors required to file the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll form on prevailing wage projects. Background: On October 20, 2008 the U.S. Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register (73 FR 62229) which invited comments until November 19, 2008, on proposed revisions to update current regulatory standards in order to better protect worker privacy for contracts covering federally financed and federally-assisted construction contracts.  Specifically the proposed revisions affect the reporting of employee addresses and social security numbers on the Federal WH-347 certified payroll reports. Effective Date: According to recent information released in the Federal Register (73 FR 77504) published on…
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