Any employer engaged in public construction work in Illinois must be intimately familiar with such developments in this developing area of law as it is far too serious to ignore.
Just when you think you have a solid understanding of Illinois’ notorious prevailing wage law, and you feel confident as to your particular obligations with regard to its record keeping requirements, the Illinois Legislature turns the table and “tweaks” the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act again.  Here we go:
•  Thanks to HB3237 (signed into law as Public Act 097-0571), beginning January 1, 2012,
Illinois construction contractors, developers and public bodies need to know the new
changes to the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act (“IPWA” – 820 ILCS 130/1 et. seq.).
•  On May 25, 2011, the Illinois Legislature passed HB2987 (creating the Project Labor
Agreements Act  – “PLAA”) which codifies into law Governor Quinn’s Executive Order
on Union-Only Project Labor Agreements (Public Act 097-0199).
•  This PLAA requires all Illinois State departments, agencies, authorities, boards, or
instrumentalities to include a project labor agreement (PLA) on a public works project
when that department, agency, authority, board, or instrumentality determines that the
agreement advances the State’s interest.
•  The problem with this new law is that a PLA is nothing more than a pre-hire “union only”
contract.
•  The Illinois Procurement Code sets forth certain requirements for a bidder on a public
works State construction contract to comply with in order to be considered a
“responsible bidder.”  As such, a bidder must be able to present evidence or documents
to substantiate that it complies as a responsible bidder.
•  One of the requirements under the Code is that the bidder must be in compliance with
the Prevailing Wage Act.  Other requirements include compliance with Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission provisions pertaining to government contractors
and proof of participation in US Department of Labor approved apprenticeship and
training programs.
This 90-minute webinar will educate construction related businesses throughout the United States on performing public works construction projects in and around Illinois.

Share this: