AB50,888,115(6m) Liability and penalties. (ag) 1. A contractor, subcontractor, or 6contractor’s or subcontractor’s agent who fails to pay the prevailing wage rate 7determined by the department under sub. (3) or who pays less than 1.5 times the 8hourly basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of 9labor is liable to any affected employee in the amount of his or her unpaid wages or 10his or her unpaid overtime compensation and in an additional amount as liquidated 11damages as provided in subd. 2. or 3., whichever is applicable. AB50,888,20122. If the department determines upon inspection under sub. (5) (b) or (c) that 13a contractor, subcontractor, or contractor’s or subcontractor’s agent has failed to 14pay the prevailing wage rate determined by the department under sub. (3) or has 15paid less than 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 16the prevailing hours of labor, the department shall order the contractor to pay to 17any affected employee the amount of his or her unpaid wages or his or her unpaid 18overtime compensation and an additional amount equal to 100 percent of the 19amount of those unpaid wages or that unpaid overtime compensation as liquidated 20damages within a period specified by the department in the order. AB50,889,9213. In addition to or in lieu of recovering the liability specified in subd. 1. as 22provided in subd. 2., any employee for and on behalf of that employee and other 23employees similarly situated may commence an action to recover that liability in
1any court of competent jurisdiction. If the court finds that a contractor, 2subcontractor, or contractor’s or subcontractor’s agent has failed to pay the 3prevailing wage rate determined by the department under sub. (3) or has paid less 4than 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of the 5prevailing hours of labor, the court shall order the contractor, subcontractor, or 6agent to pay to any affected employee the amount of his or her unpaid wages or his 7or her unpaid overtime compensation and an additional amount equal to 100 8percent of the amount of those unpaid wages or that unpaid overtime compensation 9as liquidated damages. AB50,889,14105. No employee may be a party plaintiff to an action under subd. 3. unless the 11employee consents in writing to become a party and the consent is filed in the court 12in which the action is brought. Notwithstanding s. 814.04 (1), the court shall, in 13addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff, allow reasonable attorney fees 14and costs to be paid by the defendant. AB50,889,1815(am) Except as provided in pars. (b), (d), and (f), any contractor, subcontractor, 16or contractor’s or subcontractor’s agent who violates this section may be fined not 17more than $200 or imprisoned for not more than 6 months or both. Each day that a 18violation continues is a separate offense. AB50,890,419(b) Whoever induces an individual who seeks to be or is employed on any 20project of public works that is subject to this section to give up, waive, or return any 21part of the wages to which the individual is entitled under the contract governing 22the project, or who reduces the hourly basic rate of pay normally paid to an 23individual for work on a project that is not subject to this section during a week in
1which the individual works both on a project of public works that is subject to this 2section and on a project that is not subject to this section, by threat not to employ, by 3threat of dismissal from employment, or by any other means is guilty of an offense 4under s. 946.15 (1). AB50,890,145(c) Any individual who is employed on a project of public works that is subject 6to this section who knowingly allows a contractor, subcontractor, or contractor’s or 7subcontractor’s agent to pay him or her less than the prevailing wage rate set forth 8in the contract governing the project, who gives up, waives, or returns any part of 9the compensation to which he or she is entitled under the contract, or who gives up, 10waives, or returns any part of the compensation to which he or she is normally 11entitled for work on a project that is not subject to this section during a week in 12which the individual works both on a project of public works that is subject to this 13section and on a project that is not subject to this section, is guilty of an offense 14under s. 946.15 (2). AB50,890,2015(d) Whoever induces any individual who seeks to be or is employed on any 16project of public works that is subject to this section to allow any part of the wages 17to which the individual is entitled under the contract governing the project to be 18deducted from the individual’s pay is guilty of an offense under s. 946.15 (3), unless 19the deduction would be allowed under 29 CFR 3.5 or 3.6 from an individual who is 20working on a project that is subject to 40 USC 3142. AB50,891,321(e) Any individual who is employed on a project of public works that is subject 22to this section who knowingly allows any part of the wages to which he or she is 23entitled under the contract governing the project to be deducted from his or her pay
1is guilty of an offense under s. 946.15 (4), unless the deduction would be allowed 2under 29 CFR 3.5 or 3.6 from an individual who is working on a project that is 3subject to 40 USC 3142. AB50,891,64(f) Paragraph (am) does not apply to any person who fails to provide any 5information to the department to assist the department in determining prevailing 6wage rates under sub. (3) (a) or (am). AB50,891,187(7) Debarment. (a) Except as provided under pars. (b) and (c), the 8department shall distribute to all state agencies a list of all persons that the 9department has found to have failed to pay the prevailing wage rate determined 10under sub. (3) or has found to have paid less than 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of 11pay for all hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor at any time in the 12preceding 3 years. The department shall include with any name the address of the 13person and shall specify when the person failed to pay the prevailing wage rate and 14when the person paid less than 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of pay for all hours 15worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor. A state agency may not award any 16contract to the person unless otherwise recommended by the department or unless 173 years have elapsed from the date the department issued its findings or date of 18final determination by a court of competent jurisdiction, whichever is later. AB50,892,219(b) The department may not include in a notification under par. (a) the name 20of any person on the basis of having subcontracted a contract for a project of public 21works to a person that the department has found to have failed to pay the prevailing 22wage rate determined under sub. (3) or has found to have paid less than 1.5 times
1the hourly basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of 2labor. AB50,892,63(c) This subsection does not apply to any contractor, subcontractor, or agent 4who in good faith commits a minor violation of this section, as determined on a case-5by-case basis through administrative hearings with all rights to due process 6afforded to all parties or who has not exhausted or waived all appeals. AB50,892,157(d) Any person submitting a bid on a project of public works that is subject to 8this section shall, on the date the person submits the bid, identify any construction 9business in which the person, or a shareholder, officer, or partner of the person if 10the person is a business, owns or has owned at least a 25 percent interest on the 11date the person submits the bid or at any other time within 3 years preceding the 12date the person submits the bid, if the business has been found to have failed to pay 13the prevailing wage rate determined under sub. (3) or to have paid less than 1.5 14times the hourly basic rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of the prevailing 15hours of labor. AB50,892,1616(e) The department shall promulgate rules to administer this subsection. AB50,167217Section 1672. 103.50 of the statutes is created to read: AB50,892,1818103.50 Highway contracts. (1) Definitions. In this section: AB50,893,219(a) “Area” means the county in which a proposed project that is subject to this 20section is located or, if the department determines that there is insufficient wage 21data in that county, “area” means those counties that are contiguous to that county 22or, if the department determines that there is insufficient wage data in those 23counties, “area” means those counties that are contiguous to those counties or, if
1the department determines that there is insufficient wage data in those counties, 2“area” means the entire state. AB50,893,33(b) “Hourly basic rate of pay” has the meaning given in s. 103.49 (1) (b). AB50,893,44(bg) “Insufficient wage data” has the meaning given in s. 103.49 (1) (bg). AB50,893,55(c) “Prevailing hours of labor” has the meaning given in s. 103.49 (1) (c). AB50,893,106(d) 1. Except as provided in subd. 2., “prevailing wage rate” for any trade or 7occupation in any area means the hourly basic rate of pay, plus the hourly 8contribution for health insurance benefits, vacation benefits, pension benefits, and 9any other bona fide economic benefit, paid directly or indirectly, for a majority of the 10hours worked in the trade or occupation in the area. AB50,893,18112. If there is no rate at which a majority of the hours worked in the trade or 12occupation in the area is paid, “prevailing wage rate” means the average hourly 13basic rate of pay, weighted by the number of hours worked, plus the average hourly 14contribution, weighted by the number of hours worked, for health insurance 15benefits, vacation benefits, pension benefits, and any other bona fide economic 16benefit, paid directly or indirectly for all hours worked at the hourly basic rate of 17pay of the highest-paid 51 percent of hours worked in that trade or occupation in 18that area. AB50,893,1919(e) “Truck driver” has the meaning given in s. 103.49 (1) (g). AB50,893,2320(2) Prevailing wage rates and hours of labor. No contractor, 21subcontractor, agent, or other person performing any work on a project under a 22contract based on bids as provided in s. 84.06 (2) to which the state is a party for the 23construction or improvement of any highway may do any of the following: AB50,894,3
1(a) Pay an individual performing the work described in sub. (2m) less than the 2prevailing wage rate in the area in which the work is to be done determined under 3sub. (3). AB50,894,84(b) Allow an individual performing the work described in sub. (2m) to work a 5greater number of hours per day or per week than the prevailing hours of labor, 6unless the contractor, subcontractor, or contractor’s or subcontractor’s agent pays 7the individual for all hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor at a 8rate of at least 1.5 times the individual’s hourly basic rate of pay. AB50,894,139(2g) Nonapplicability. This section does not apply to a single-trade project 10of public works, as defined in s. 103.49 (1) (em), for which the estimated project cost 11of completion is less than $48,000 or a multiple-trade project of public works, as 12defined in s. 103.49 (1) (br), for which the estimated project cost of completion is less 13than $100,000. AB50,894,1914(2m) Covered employees. (a) Subject to par. (b), any person subject to this 15section shall pay all of the following employees the prevailing wage rate determined 16under sub. (3) and may not allow such employees to work a greater number of hours 17per day or per week than the prevailing hours of labor, unless the person pays for all 18hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor at a rate of at least 1.5 times 19the employees’ hourly basic rate of pay: