ABC claimed victory this week after being informed by Governor Rick Snyder's administration that the highly misleading and controversial so-called Prevailing Wage Violators list made available on the internet by the state of Michigan has been terminated.

Instituted by former Governor Jennifer Granholm's Administration, the listing was frequently the object of misinformation and was often misused by union business agents attempting to inaccurately disparage law-abiding Merit Shop companies. The violators list had even resulted in third party union business agents abusing the list by petitioning project owners to prohibit reputable contractors (those who play by the rules by correcting a technical or minor error) from performing work on a project, thereby defaming their businesses.

"ABC is very encouraged that the illegal practice of publishing a violators listing has been terminated by the Snyder Administration", said ABC of Michigan President Chris Fisher.  "The Granholm administration's "scarlet letter" approach for enforcement of the Act was clearly political payback that unfairly harmed reputable Michigan companies and their employees without even providing these citizens any due process. We are encouraged to see action taken to end this deplorable process.

Some of the violations on the now defunct list went back as far as 1998, well after disputes were settled.  Another major problem, ABC of Michigan argued, was that there was not even indication on the list differentiating minor reasons for violation from major violations involving substantial back pay amounts.  Problematic examples of inclusion on the "violators" listing included additional examples such as contractors being placed on the list for having forgotten to post a copy of the rates in a conspicuous place at the jobsite - a mere technical violation - and then were placed under the misleading title of "Failure to Provide Records," even after technical corrections were made to the satisfaction of the monitoring entity.   Contractors were further listed as "violators" of the law even when they made a simple math error in calculating fringe benefit credits and corrected the technical payroll glitch after it was discovered. 

In these instances and numerous others, the prevailing wage violators listing was not only misleading and defamed contractors, but it directly conflicted with published Michigan Court of Appeals case law.  The Michigan Court of Appeals has expressly ruled that failure to pay the prevailing wage does not constitute a violation of the Act (Associated Builders and Contractors v. Director Dep't of Consumer & Indus. Servs., 267 Mich. App. 386, 399; 705 N.W.2d 509).  That 2005 ruling stated that "it cannot be said that the failure to pay the prevailing wage in and of itself constitutes a violation of the provisions of the act." Clearly there was no statutory authority for the Granholm Administration publishing the list, in direct conflict with published decisions of the appellate courts.  

Also troubling was that the listing is also stricter than practices utilized in enforcement of federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage enforcement.

"With this online listing now terminated, law-abiding Michigan construction businesses are able to get back to work, helping to create jobs and rebuild our struggling state's economy" Fisher concluded.