June 4, 2007

Prevailing Wage Settlement: Dann and Zurz recover nearly half a million dollars for Ohio workers who were underpaid
New Labor Relations Section of Ohio Attorney General to work closely with Commerce to enforce Ohio law

Cleveland ~ Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and Commerce Director Kim Zurz announce today the settlement of a major prevailing wage case. In coordination with the settlement is a revived initiative to ensure that contractors and subcontractors pay prevailing wages on all capital project work in the state of Ohio.

This particular case stems from a fifty million dollar project to remove contaminated industrial sediment from the Ashtabula River. The joint project is being funded by federal, state, and local agencies - with Ohio providing seven million dollars for the Ashtabula Port Authority's share. When the local Laborers’ Union alleged non-compliance with Ohio's Prevailing Wage Law, it sparked a fifteen month investigation by the Commerce Department's Division of Labor and Worker Safety, Wage and Hour Bureau. Working with the Attorney General's Office, nineteen sub-contractors were identified — sub-contractors who were not paying workers the prevailing wage. Fifteen of those sub-contractors are from Ohio.

Under the settlement agreement, the workers are to be paid a total of $452,855.51 in back wages. In addition, a penalty of $113,755.10 was assessed, amounting to $566,610.61 in recovered monies.

"We are committed to vigorously monitoring and enforcing the rightful payments of wages to Ohio workers, " said Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, "This settlement should serve as a wake-up call to contractors across our state. Those who seek business in Ohio and seek our dedicated, loyal, and hardworking employees is required to pay workers wages and benefits equal to or greater than the applicable prevailing wage.”

Director Zurz said, “The Ohio Department of Commerce is aggressively enforcing the prevailing wage. We are pleased that this settlement insures that the workers on this project will receive the wages that they had earned.”