Minnesota Prevailing Wage

Effective August 1, 2023, contractors will be liable for their subcontractors’ unpaid wages to employees for all new or amended construction contracts on or after that date. Yes, you heard that right. Contractors are now on the hook for the proper payment of wages to their subcontractor’s employees. The amendment can be found here

In the past week there was nothing really Earth-shattering as far as wage and hour updates, but certainly some updates to note:

  • MnDOLI issued a reminder to employers that most Minnesota employers are subject to both state and federal wage laws…employers must review both laws (and ordinances) to ensure compliance!  For example, unlike FLSA:

Contractors – today is the last day to fill out your annual prevailing wage survey! The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (MnDOLI) uses information collected from the survey to determine the prevailing wage rates on commercial, highway/heavy and residential construction projects in Minnesota. Thus, this is non-union contractors’ chance to have a say in

paperwork2In the second of my spring cleaning series, I wanted to provide some thoughts for those Minnesota government contractors who must maintain certain documents in order to continue to enter into contracts for State projects.  Below are some frequent violations/issues found by the MDHR when auditing contractors.  This is by no means an exhaustive list,

HighwayToday the State of Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (MnDOLI) issued a Notice of Correction to Highway Heavy Prevailing Wage Rates. If you’re on their email list you should have gotten the notice. If not, you can sign up here. Here’s the notice in its entirety that I received from the email list (funny enough, but not surprising, it’s hard to find this notice on MnDOLI’s website):
Continue Reading MN Highway Heavy Contractors – Prevailing Wage Rates Corrected

clickAs a result of President Obama’s White House Summit on Worker Voice, on October 28, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Blog announced its new beta website – Worker.gov. This website is, according to the DOL, designed to provide “easy-to-access” solutions for employees who need answers “fast”. The DOL admits that “Even

ConstructionEach month I receive in my inbox the City of Minneapolis’ Compliance Monthly – a newsletter that the Minnesota Department of Civil Rights Contract Compliance Divisions publishes. Often, as it does in the September 2016 edition, it toots its own horn about how many contractors they have “held accountable”, and how much they have collected

In its June 21, 2016, Compliance Tips, the City of Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Contract Compliance Division offered some tips for how a contractor can demonstrate good faith efforts at meeting the City’s workforce goals.  Given the recent notice of on-site “reviews” that I blogged about earlier, this is no surprise. Contractors should expect

Contractors doing business in Minneapolis should be aware that the City will be conducting on-site “reviews” of the general contractor for City projects. Don’t get fooled that this is a friendly visit just because you are called in advance to schedule a time to meet. This “review” is an audit or investigation or whatever you