AS Title 36, Chapter 5: Wages and Hours of Labor

Chapter 05. Wages and Hours of Labor. Article 1. Public Construction Contracts. Sec. 36.05.005. Applicability. This chapter applies only to a public construction contract that exceeds $25,000. Sec. 36.05.010. Wage rates on public construction. A contractor or subcontractor who performs work on a public construction contract in the state shall pay not less than the current prevailing rate of wages for work of a similar nature in the region in which the work is done. The current prevailing rate of wages is that contained in the latest determination of prevailing rate of wages issued by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development at least 10 days before the final date for submission of bids for the contract. The rate shall remain in effect for the life of the contract or for 24 calendar months, whichever is shorter. At the end of the initial 24-month period, if new wage determinations have been issued by the department, the latest wage determination shall become effective for the next 24-month period or until the contract is completed, whichever occurs first. This process shall be repeated until the contract is completed. Sec. 36.05.020. Basis for determining wage. A subcontract that is performed on public construction may be reduced to a basis of day labor for the purpose of determining whether or not the subcontractor or contractors have paid at not less than the prevailing scale of wage. Sec. 36.05.030. Authority; investigations; hearings; regulations; enforcement. (a) The Department of Labor and Workforce Development has the authority to determine the prevailing wage, and whether or not this chapter is being violated. The department may when necessary for the enforcement of this chapter (1) conduct investigations and hold hearings concerning wages; (2) compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents; (3) adopt regulations. (b) If a person violates this chapter the attorney general shall, when requested by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, enforce these provisions. Sec. 36.05.035. Notification of contract awards. Upon awarding a public construction contract, the state or a political subdivision of the state shall (1) immediately notify the commissioner of labor and workforce development of the amount of the contract, the effective date of the contract, the identity of the contractor and all subcontractors, the site or sites of construction, and provide a project description; and (2) verify that the bonding requirements of AS 36.25 have been met and that the requirements of AS 08.18 have been met. Sec. 36.05.040. Filing schedule of employees, wages paid, and other information. All contractors or subcontractors who perform work on a public construction contract for the state or for a political subdivision of the state shall, before the Friday of every second week, file with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development a sworn affidavit for the previous reporting period, setting out in detail the number of persons employed, wages paid, job classification of each employee, hours worked each day and week, and other information on a form provided by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Sec. 36.05.045. Notice of work and completion; withholding of payment. (a) Before commencing work on a public construction contract, the person entering into the contract with a contracting agency shall designate a primary contractor for purposes of this section. Before work commences, the primary contractor shall file a notice of work with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The notice of work must list work to be performed under the public construction contract by each contractor who will perform any portion of work on the contract and the contract price being paid to each contractor. The primary contractor shall pay all filing fees for each contractor performing work on the contract, including a filing fee based on the contract price being paid for work performed by the primary contractor's employees. The filing fee payable shall be the sum of all fees calculated for each contractor. The filing fee shall be one percent of each contractor's contract price. The total filing fee payable by the primary contractor under this subsection may not exceed $5,000. In this subsection, “contractor” means an employer who is using employees to perform work on the public construction contract under the contract or a subcontract. (b) Upon completion of all work on the public construction contract, the primary contractor shall file with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development a notice of completion together with payment of any additional filing fees owed due to increased contract amounts. Within 30 days after the department's receipt of the primary contractor's notice of completion, the department shall inform the contracting agency of the amount, if any, to be withheld from the final payment. (c) A contracting agency (1) may release final payment on a public construction contract to the extent that the agency has received verification from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development that (A) the primary contractor has complied with (a) and (b) of this section; (B) the Department of Labor and Workforce Development is not conducting an investigation under this title; and (C) the Department of Labor and Workforce Development has not issued a notice of a violation of this chapter to the primary contractor or any other contractors working on the public construction contract; and (2) shall withhold from the final payment an amount sufficient to pay the department's estimate of what may be needed to compensate the employees of any contractors under investigation on this construction contract, and any unpaid filing fees. (d) The notice and filing fee required under (a) of this section may be filed after work has begun if (1) the public construction contract is for work undertaken in immediate response to an emergency; and (2) the notice and fees are filed not later than 14 days after the work has begun. (e) A false statement made on a notice required by this section is punishable under AS 11.56.210 . Sec. 36.05.050. Hours to constitute day's work. [Repealed, § 1 ch 3 SLA 1973.] Sec. 36.05.060. Penalty for violation of this chapter. A contractor who violates this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not less than 10 days nor more than 90 days, or by both. Each day a violation exists constitutes a separate offense. Sec. 36.05.070. Wage rates in specifications and contracts for public works. (a) The advertised specifications for a public construction contract that requires or involves the employment of mechanics, laborers, or field surveyors must contain a provision stating the minimum wages to be paid various classes of laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors and that the rate of wages shall be adjusted to the wage rate under AS 36.05.010 . (b) [Repealed, § 17 ch 142 SLA 1972.] (c) A public construction contract under (a) of this section must contain provisions that (1) the contractor or subcontractors of the contractor shall pay all employees unconditionally and not less than once a week; (2) wages may not be less than those stated in the advertised specifications, regardless of the contractual relationship between the contractor or subcontractors and laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors; (3) the scale of wages to be paid shall be posted by the contractor in a prominent and easily accessible place at the site of the work; (4) the state or a political subdivision shall withhold so much of the accrued payments as is necessary to pay to laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors employed by the contractor or subcontractors the difference between (A) the rates of wages required by the contract to be paid laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors on the work; and (B) the rates of wages in fact received by laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors. Sec. 36.05.080. Failure to pay agreed wages. Every contract within the scope of AS 36.05.070 must contain a provision that if it is found that a laborer, mechanic, or field surveyor employed by the contractor or subcontractor has been or is being paid a rate of wages less than the rate of wages required by the contract to be paid, the state or its political subdivision may, by written notice to the contractor, terminate the contractor's right to proceed with the work or the part of the work for which there is a failure to pay the required wages and to prosecute the work to completion by contract or otherwise, and the contractor and the contractor's sureties are liable to the state or its political subdivision for excess costs for completing the work. Sec. 36.05.090. Payment of wages from withheld payments and listing contractors who violate contracts. (a) The state disbursing officer in the case of a state public construction contract and the local fiscal officer in the case of a political subdivision public construction contract shall pay directly to laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors from accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contract the wages due laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors under AS 36.05.070 . (b) The state disbursing officer or the local fiscal officer shall distribute to all departments of the state government and to all political subdivisions of the state a list giving the names of persons who have disregarded their obligations to employees. A person appearing on this list and a firm, corporation, partnership, or association in which the person has an interest may not work as a contractor or subcontractor on a public construction contract for the state or a political subdivision of the state until three years after the date of publication of the list. If the accrued payments withheld under the contract are insufficient to reimburse all the laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors with respect to whom there has been a failure to pay the wages required under AS 36.05.070 , the laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors have the right of action or intervention or both against the contractor and the contractor's sureties conferred by law upon persons furnishing labor or materials, and in the proceedings it is not a defense that the laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors accepted or agreed to accept less than the required rate of wages or voluntarily made refunds. Sec. 36.05.100. Effect of AS 36.05.070 — 36.05.110 on other laws. AS 36.05.070 — 36.05.110 do not supersede or impair authority granted by state law to provide for the establishment of specific wage rates. Sec. 36.05.110. Contracts entered into without advertising. The fact that a public construction contract authorized by law is entered into upon a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee basis or otherwise, without advertising for proposals, does not make AS 36.05.070 — 36.05.110 inapplicable if those sections are otherwise applicable to the contract. Sec. 36.05.120. Regulations governing contractors. [Repealed, § 17 ch 142 SLA 1972.] Article 2. General Provisions. Sec. 36.05.900. Definition. In this chapter, “contracting agency” means the state or a political subdivision of the state that has entered into a public construction contract with a contractor.