I have come up against a prevailing wage issue with a contractor on a
project partially funded by CDBG. My Personnel department has been
certifying payroll with the contractor weekly, since inception of the
contract. However, when we went out to interview three employees of the
company, they all stated that they were getting paid at about 50% of the
prevailing wage.
When I advised the contractor of the prevailing wage problem, he brought in
copies of payroll checks showing that he was paying his employees at
prevailing wage.
My questions for the membership today are:
* How have you dealt with this problem?
* Who had the burden of proof to certify payroll?
* Did the County (if you are not an entitlement City) or your CDBG
department (if an entitlement City) refuse to approve the request for CDBG
fund reimbursement because of the prevailing wage issue?
* Did you determine you could withhold payment from the contractor for
the
amount of non-complying wages paid?
Please reply if you have any comments on any of the above questions.
John Herrera, Administrative Services Director
City of Imperial Beach
(619) 628-1361
