April 6, 2006

By CYDNEY GILLIS
Staff Reporter

If it weren’t for Rebound, David Ciprut would be out $3,100.

That’s how much in back pay the Seattle nonprofit got from a concrete contractor who employed Ciprut on several projects in 2004, including jobs at the King County Courthouse and the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in downtown Seattle.

At the time, Ciprut was making $10 an hour. But, under the law, the prevailing wage on the public works jobs he was doing was $32. Ciprut didn’t realize his employer, Permanent Concrete Solutions, was paying him a third of what he was owed until a friend in the ironworkers’ union tipped him off.

The friend sent Ciprut to Rebound. Formed in 1988 by labor unions, Rebound is a private organization that, in essence, polices public works contracts by investigating, filing claims, or suing contractors who violate prevailing wage laws.

It’s the Department of Labor and Industries’ job to do the policing. But, with only six field agents for the whole state, the agency can’t keep up with all the violations, says Miriam Israel Moses, Rebound’s executive director.

It took eight months, but after Rebound investigated and put pressure on Permanent Concrete Solutions, the owner paid up.

“ He’d been in business a long time and was fully aware these were all prevailing wage jobs,” Ciprut says. “He was basically just trying to get one over on me.”

Moses says that’s all too common. Among just a few of the scams she’s seen, contractors will tell workers they will get the prevailing wage after a six-month probation period or that they’re not entitled to it because they don’t have a green card or visa.

Some contractors will pay the prevailing wage to Pedro and Juan, who then pay undocumented workers under the table, she says.

Then there’s the old trick of a contractor pretending to build a private project that just happens to be leased mostly by public agencies — something covered by prevailing wage law if more than half the building is publicly leased.

“ It’s been one of the biggest scams for years,” Moses says: “Build them private, rent them public.”

That’s why union locals for electricians, plumbers, roofers, and other workers kick in a nickel an hour from every member’s wages to support Rebound — to make sure that all workers on public projects earn the same wages under the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act and a similar 1945 state prevailing-wage law.

The laws weren’t passed for workers, Moses says, but to protect contractors from unfair bidding. Acting much like private detectives, Moses and another investigator, Tim Silsbee, respond to calls and tips from workers such as Ciprut, visit job sites, and audit payrolls. That includes comparing pay stubs to job-site calendars and payroll affidavits that contractors must file with the state.

“ If I look at the payroll and it lists carpenters, and the payroll affidavit shows no carpenters, something’s wrong,” Moses says.

Instead of filing claims with L&I, which often settles with an employer for half of what the worker is owed, Moses says, Rebound’s strategy in recent years has been to sue the employer in district court, where the worker can collect double the wages owed, up to $50,000.

Ninety-five percent of the work Rebound does, she says, is for non-union members, with the organization collecting nearly $300,000 in back pay in 2004.

“ They helped me out immeasurably,” Ciprut says. “I would never have been able to get that money on my own. I’d have had to hire a lawyer.” n

[Resources]

Information on prevailing wages and scope of work can be found at www.rebound.org.