Summary
In Kitson Brothers, a contract was awarded to replace the roof on a cell block at Graterford State Correctional Institute and during the performance of the contract the Department cited the contractor for violation of Section 5 of the Act which required prevailing minimum wages to be paid on all public work.
Summary of this case from Kulzer Roof., Inc. v. Dept. of Lab. and IOpinion
Argued February 6, 1980
May 9, 1980.
Labor — Minimum wages — Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, Act 1961, August 15, P.L. 987 — Public work — Maintenance — Roof repair.
1. Compliance with minimum wage provisions of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, Act 1961, August 15, P.L. 987, is not required of contractors employing workmen on public works for simply maintenance work, and the replacement of a roof which does not change or increase the size, type or extent of the public facility is maintenance work not covered by the statutory requirements. [322]
Judge CRAIG filed a dissenting opinion which was substantially as follows:
1. The replacement of a felt-and-pitch roof with asphalt is a change in the type of roof constituting repair, rather than maintenance, and a contractor involved with such a public works project must comply with minimum wage provisions of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, Act 1961, August 15, P.L. 987. [323]
Argued February 6, 1980, before President Judge BOWMAN and Judges CRUMLISH, JR., WILKINSON, JR., MENCER, BLATT, CRAIG and MacPHAIL. Judges ROGERS and WILLIAMS, JR. did not participate.
Appeal, No. 2828 C.D. 1978, from the Order of the Department of Labor and Industry in case of In Re: Kitson Brothers, Inc.
Violation of statutory minimum wage requirements charged by Department of Labor and Industry, Prevailing Wage Division. Violations found. Damages assessed. Department order issued. Contractor appealed to the Prevailing Wage Appeals Board. Appeal dismissed. Contractor appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Reversed. Petition for rehearing and reargument filed and denied.
R. Michael Carr, with him Stephen J. Springer, LaBrum Doak, for petitioner.
Sandra Christianson, with her Neil Hirsch, Assistant Attorneys General and Charles S. Solit, General Counsel, for respondent.
Kitson Brothers, Inc. (petitioner) appeals from an order of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Appeals Board (Board) which affirmed the decision of the Secretary of Labor and Industry that petitioner had intentionally violated Section 5 of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act (Act), Act of August 15, 1961, P.L. 987, 43 P. S. § 165-5. We reverse.
Petitioner was awarded a contract by the Department of Property and Supplies to replace the roof on Cell Block C at Graterford State Correctional Institution. The work consisted primarily of replacing the old 4-ply felt and coal tar pitch roof with a new asphalt covering. During the performance of the contract, petitioner was investigated by an inspector from the Department of Labor and Industry's Prevailing Wage Division (Department), who concluded that petitioner had violated the Act. After the requisite hearings and appeals, the Board concurred and this appeal followed.
Section 5 of the Act requires that the prevailing minimum wage "shall be paid to all workmen employed on public work." (Emphasis added.) "Public work" is defined in Section 2(5) of the Act, 43 P. S. § 165-2(5), as the
construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration and/or repair work other than maintenance work, done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of the funds of a public body where the estimated cost of the total project is in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), but shall not include work performed under a rehabilitation or manpower training program. (Emphasis added.)
Section 2(3) of the Act defines "maintenance work" as "the repair of existing facilities when the size, type or extent of such facilities is not thereby changed or increased." (Emphasis added.) Petitioner contends that its contract constituted maintenance work and therefore it was not subject to the Act. The Department, on the other hand, argues that the reroofing contract amounted to repair work other than maintenance work and thus petitioner was obligated to pay the prevailing wage.
Applying the cited definitions to the facts, we are convinced that petitioner performed maintenance work at Cell Block C rather than repair work. We simply do not comprehend how the replacement of a roof changes or increases the size, type or extent of the cell block. Indeed, the only difference effected in Cell Block C by petitioner's work was, presumably, a dryer environment for the inmates. Such a qualitative change, however, is insufficient to bring the contract within the meaning of "public work" in Section 2(5) and thus within the ambit of the Act.
Accordingly, we enter the following
ORDER
AND NOW, this 9th day of May, 1980, the order of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Appeals Board, dated November 9, 1978, is reversed.
President Judge BOWMAN did not participate in the decision in this case.
I respectfully dissent on the basis that a "reroofing contract", as the majority opinion correctly characterizes it, is repair work, subject to prevailing wage, and not just maintenance.
Under the statutory definition of "maintenance", the "existing facilit[y]" may properly be considered to be the roof, not the cellblock, and replacing a felt-and-pitch roof with asphalt is a change of "type", and hence is not maintenance, but repair.