Plumbers & Gasfitters UA Local 12
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Prevailing Wage Enforcement

Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 12 Boston has been initiating criminal complaints on prevailing wage violations and monitoring criminal prosecutions with the Attorney General's Office.  When necessary, we have initiated civil suits on behalf of plumbers who were not paid the prevailing wage. For the past 10+ years our office has reclaimed hundreds of thousands of dollars for unsuspecting workers who were not paid the proper prevailing wages. We offer the following suggestions to assist you and ensure that you are better protected from this type of illegal activity:

  1. Always keep your pay stubs for at least three years and note on them the job worked on.
  2. Always monitor your deductions made in reference to medical and pension benefits, and retain all information regarding any pensions, including statements, demonstrating benefit withholdings, deposits, and balances.
  3. At the end of the year you can track your benefit deductions with your pay stub.  The accumulated gross pension deductions should be shown on your fourth quarter statement as deposits made from the company handling this account.
  4. Always keep a diary every week of where you worked and how many hours you worked, especially if you are being moved to numerous projects every week where the Prevailing Wage is subject to change. 
  5. Apprentices must be properly registered with the Board of Registration for their apprentice license.  They must then be indentured with the Division of Training, (DAT) by signing a contract between the employer, and the Director of the Division. This is mandatory for every apprentice to work on a public project.  You must also attend classes and earning the hours required for a Journeymen's License. IF YOU ARE NOT INDENTURED OR ATTENDING CLASSES, THEN YOU MUST BE PAID THE ENTIRE PREVAILING RATE FOR A JOURNEYMAN PLUMBER, REGARDLESS.
  6. If youremployer is not deducting taxes from your wages then contact us immediately.  This would be a violation of the independent Contractor Law, which is a serious violation.  Remember, your employer is violating the law, but you may be held fully accountable for all unpaid taxes, especially if your employer issues a 1099.

IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PAID THE PROPER RATE ON A PUBLIC JOB, OR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO THE PAYMENT OF PREVAILING WAGES THEN PLEASE CALL LOCAL 12'S WAGE ENFORCEMENT OFFICE AT 617-288-6200 x139 AND ASK TO SPEAK WITH PAUL COUNTINHO.

Prevailing wages must also be paid on service work, regardless of whether the public entity has placed a maintenance contract out to bid, or used a direct hire method to perform service work in a public building.  The public entity is responsible for obtaining the current Prevailing Wage rates from the Division of Occupational Safety before any bidding takes place, and place such wage sheets in the specifications to insure that the contractors are made aware of this requirement.  IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PAID THE PROPER RATE ON A PUBLIC JOB, OR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO THE PAYMENT OF PREVAILING WAGES THEN PLEASE CALL LOCAL 12'S WAGE ENFORCEMENT OFFICE AT 617-288-6200 x139 AND ASK TO SPEAK WITH PAUL COUNTINHO. All calls are kept in the strictest confidence to protect your privacy.