Mass-Peculiarities: An Employers Guide to Wage & Hour Law in the Bay State 2022 Edition

68 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP including time spent waiting outside the borders of the construction project in some instances— may also need to be paid at prevailing rates. 385 Covered employers must post the prevailing wage rates in a conspicuous location at the work site. 386 Certified payroll records must be submitted to the awarding authority of construction projects on a weekly basis. 387 2. Operation of Equipment in Public Works in Massachusetts Operation of “a truck or any automotive or other vehicle or equipment . . . engaged in public works” also requires payment of prevailing wages set by the DLS, even if the job does not involve “construction.” 388 Although this statute does not expressly require the DLS to follow the procedures for determining prevailing wage rates in the construction context in setting non- construction rates, the DLS generally does follow those procedures, and one federal court in Massachusetts has noted that this “framework lays out the fundamental policy decisions that constrain” application of the non-construction statute. 389 For non-construction prevailing wage work that falls under this provision, employers can only take credit for contributions to health and welfare plans and life and disability insurance, but not for pension or insurance benefits. 390 The certified payroll requirement, however, by its express terms applies only to construction work. 3. Other Prevailing Wage Provisions inMassachusetts As described above, Massachusetts prevailing wage requirements also apply to contracts to move office furniture and to clean certain public buildings. 391 The term “office furniture” has been interpreted by the DLS to exclude school room furniture. 392 The provision regarding cleaning of public buildings also rarely applies in Massachusetts schools because it covers only the cleaning of buildings owned or rented by “the commonwealth,” and not buildings belonging to 385 Kuehl v. D&R Paving, LLC , 2011 Mass. Super. LEXIS 70, at *11 (Mass. Super. Ct . May 6, 2011) (holding that drivers delivering asphalt and other materials to const ruct ion site were required to be paid for t ime spent wait ing in area direct ly adjacent to site because the t ime “serve[ed] the project ’s important interests in cont inuous operat ions and avoidance of delay while wait ing for deliveries”). 386 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 27. 387 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 27B. 388 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 27F. 389 George , 2013 WL 5205846, at *6. 390 Id .; see also DLS, Topical Outline of Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law , at 53 (May 2021). 391 Several other statutes also incorporate prevailingwage requirement s. Bus drivers must be paid prevailingwages pursuant to M.G.L. ch. 71, § 7A. Likewise, public housing authorit ies must pay prevailing wages pursuant to M.G.L. ch. 121, § 29, which expressly incorporates the provisions of M.G.L. ch. 149, § 26. 392 M.G.L. ch. 149, § 27H; DLS, Topical Outline of Massachusetts Prevailing Wage Law , at 56 (May 2021).