The PWA protects workers engaged in construction, maintenance, and other trades performing covered work on public projects funded in whole or in part by a public body. Contracts for public works valued at or above the current threshold must comply with the prevailing wage requirements. Protection extends to workers employed directly by a contractor as well as those employed by subcontractors on the same project.
If you perform covered work on a qualifying public project and are not receiving the prevailing wage, you may have a claim.
To bring a successful prevailing wage claim, you generally need to establish the following, but you don't need to have this all figured out before you call:
You performed construction, maintenance, or other covered work on a project funded in whole or in part by a public body, and the contract value meets or exceeds the applicable threshold.
A specific prevailing wage rate applied to your trade, craft, and county for the work you performed. The NJ Division of Wage and Hour Compliance publishes and updates these rates.
Your employer paid you less than the applicable prevailing wage rate, failed to provide required fringe benefits, or paid the cash equivalent of those benefits at a rate below what the PWA requires.
Employers violate the PWA in a number of recognizable ways. If any of these describe your situation, you may be owed back wages, penalties, and attorney's fees.
You are performing covered work on a public project but being paid less than the prevailing wage rate for your trade, craft, and county. This is the most direct form of PWA violation.
Your employer is not providing the fringe benefits required under the PWA, such as medical coverage or pension contributions, or is not paying their cash equivalent.
Your employer has not posted the applicable prevailing wage rates at the job site as required by the PWA. This posting requirement exists specifically so workers can verify they are being paid correctly.
Your employer is paying you at the rate for a less skilled or lower-paid classification than the work you are actually performing, in order to reduce its wage obligations on the project.
Your employer is submitting certified payroll records to the contracting public body showing rates that do not match what workers are actually receiving. This is a serious violation that can result in criminal charges as well as civil liability.
Prevailing wage violations often overlap with other employment claims. If any of the following also describe your situation, you may have more than one claim worth pursuing.
