The payment of prevailing wages is so important in New York State that it is embodied in the New York State Constitution, which provides: “No laborer, worker or mechanic, in the employ of a contractor or sub-contractor engaged in the performance of any public work shall be paid less than the rate of wages prevailing in the same trade or occupation in the locality within the state where such public work is to be situated, erected or used.”
The New York Labor Law provides important protections for construction workers and ensures that they receive a fair wage for performing public construction work. Failures to comply with the law have resulted in multi-million-dollar class action lawsuits and settlements and, in severe cases, imprisonment.
Pechman Law Group has handled several major prevailing wage cases, including a case against JLJ IV Enterprises, in which we obtained a $ 2.9 million settlement for flaggers. Franco Cuadra has lectured on prevailing wage law before the New York City Bar Association and co-authored an article with Lou Pechman on prevailing wage which appeared in the New York Law Journal.