may be canceled and the work given to another contractor for completion. In addition, if a contractor has failed to pay required wages under these laws, the Federal Government may withhold or have withheld the full amount of any back wages due, from money that would otherwise be made available for payments to the contractor. Also, on written notice further payments or guarantees of funds may be suspended until violations have been corrected.

Contractors and subcontractors who disregard their obligations under any of these laws may be barred for a period of 3 years from receiving any further contracts to which the laws apply.

Davis-Bacon Act

Act of March 3, 1931, U.S. Code 1952, Title 40, Section 276a et seq., as affected by the "Portal-to-Portal Act" of 1947, U.S. Code, Title 29, Sections 251-262, and Reorganization Plan No. 14 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3176, 64 Stat. 1267)

This act covers direct Federal construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works, including painting and decorating, where the contract is more than $2,000, and applies to all agencies of the Federal Government and of the District of Columbia that directly make construction contracts.

The act provides for withholding money from the contractor to pay workers who have not been paid the required wages and gives the Comptroller General the authority to pay out the money for back wages. To obtain payment of unpaid wages from the money withheld, the employee has to file a claim with the Comptroller General. If enough money has not been withheld to cover all underpayments to laborers or mechanics, a worker who does not receive all that is due him has the right to sue the contractor and the sureties on his bond under the Miller Act. It is no defense for the contractor that the worker has accepted or agreed to accept wages at rates less than the rates determined by the Secretary, or has refunded any of the wages voluntarily.

In 1964, the Davis-Bacon Act was amended to include fringe benefits in the determination of prevailing wages by the Secretary of Labor.

Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

Act of June 29, 1956, Public Law 627, 84th Congress, Second Session This act covers the construction of Federal-Aid highway systems including the Interstate System.

Section 115 of the act provides for the application of the DavisBacon Act to all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors and subcontractors on the initial construction of highways on the Interstate System. Rates of wages paid to such laborers and mechanics may not be less than those which the Secretary of Labor, in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, determines to be prevailing on the same type of work on similar construction in the immediate locality. Such prevailing rates are required to be predetermined by the Secretary after consultation with the highway department of the State in which a project is to be performed and after giving due regard to the information so obtained. The Highway Act provides that the predetermined wage rates shall be set out in each project advertise

ment for bids and in each bid proposal form, and shall be made a part of the contact covering the project.

United States Housing Act of 1937; Housing Act of 1949

Act of September 1, 1937, U.S. Code 1952, Title 42, Section 1401 et seq.; Act of July 15, 1949, U.S. Code 1952, Title 42, Section 1441 et seq.

These laws cover slum clearance, urban renewal, and low-rent public housing. Construction contracts are awarded by local authorities on projects financed with the assistance of loans and grants from the Federal Government. Laborers and mechanics employed in any part of the development of these projects must be paid not less than the wage rates determined by the Secretary of Labor.

Defense Housing and Community Facilities and Services Act of

1951

Act of September 1, 1951, as amended; U.S. Code 1952, Title 42, Section 1591 et seq.

The prevailing wage provisions of this law cover housing for defense workers or for military personnel, and also cover community facilities such as sewers, waterlines, streets, and other facilities in defense areas, outside military installations.

National Housing Act (FHA) as Amended

Act of June 3, 1939, U.S. Code 1952, Title 12, Section 1703 et seq.

This law covers construction which is financed with assistance by the Federal Government through mortgage insurance by FHA. Its prevailing wage provisions apply to laborers and mechanics working on construction of multitype dwellings for rental purposes (walkup and elevator apartments and do not apply to building of individual homes under FHA mortgages unless done by cooperatives or unless the mortgage insured by FHA covers a project of 12 or more family homes. Under a 1956 amendment to the law, the requirement for the payment of not less than the prevailing wage scales determined by the Secretary of Labor continues to apply to projects approved through June 30, 1958, on rental housing built with FHA financing for military personnel on or near Federal military installations. (The Davis-Bacon Act applies to military housing built by the Federal Government on its military installations.)

Housing Grants for Domestic Farm Labor

Act of September 7, 1964, Public Law No. 560, 88th Congress, Second Session

The Housing Act of 1964, Title V-Rural Housing, amends the Housing Act of 1949 by adding provisions for a new grant program to provide for financial assistance up to two-thirds of the development cost of low-rent housing for domestic farm laborers. Applicants must charge rentals not exceeding amounts approved by the Secretary of Agriculture and must maintain housing in good condition.

School Survey and Construction Act

Act of September 23, 1950, as amended; U.S. Code 1952, Title 20, Section 251 et seq.

This law requires the payment of wages at rates not less than the prevailing rates determined by the Secretary of Labor for work on the construction, alteration, remodeling, or improving of schools in federally affected areas, where financial assistance is furnished by a Federal grant-in-aid program.

Hospital Survey and Construction Act

Act of August 13, 1946, as amended; U.S. Code 1952, Title 42, Section 291 et seq.

The prevailing wage provisions of this law cover construction contracts made by State or local authorities or private institutions under Federal grant-in-aid programs for the construction of hospitals and other medical facilities such as clinics and nurses' homes.

Federal Airport Act

Act of May 13, 1946, as amended; U.S. Code 1952, Title 49, Section 1101 et seq.

This law requires minimum wages as determined by the Secretary of Labor to be paid to skilled and unskilled labor employed on contracts over $2,000 awarded by State or local authorities for construction and repair of their airports with financial assistance from the Federal Government under a grant-in-aid program.

Miller Act

Act of August 24, 1935, as amended; U.S. Code 1952, Title 40, Sections 270a-270e; Supp. III, Title 40, Section 270e

PERSONS AND EMPLOYMENTS COVERED

The Miller Act applies to every contract of over $2,000 for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public building or public work of the United States and provides that, before any contract covered by its provisions is awarded, the contractor must execute a payment bond with a surety or sureties to protect the wages of all persons supplying labor.

This law, while not a prevailing wage law or overtime pay law, is particularly important to laborers and mechanics who work on construction covered by the Davis-Bacon Act-that is, on construction contracts made directly by the Federal Government. Although the law does not apply to Federal-aid projects but only to direct Federal contracts, it is usual for Federal agencies administering grants-in-aid, loan, mortgage guarantee, and similar Federal-aid programs to require by regulation that contractors on construction under these programs execute a performance bond. Generally, the term of such bonds extends to 1 year after completion of the project.

RIGHT TO SUE

The Miller Act gives the worker a right to sue on the contractor's bond if he does not receive payment in full within 90 days after the day on which the last labor was performed. If the worker was employed by a subcontractor, he can sue the prime contractor and sureties on the bond for his unpaid wages, if he first gives written notice to the prime contractor within 90 days after the last labor was performed. This notice must be sent by registered mail, postage prepaid, in an envelope addressed to the contractor at any place he maintains an office or conducts his business; or it may be served in any other way that the U.S. marshal or the Federal district court for the district where the job is located is authorized to serve a summons.

TIME AND MANNER FOR BRINGING SUIT

Suits to recover under the Miller Act must be commenced within 1 year after the date of final settlement of the contract and must be brought in the name of the United States, for the use of the person suing, in the United States District Court in any district in which the contract was to be performed and executed. Suit is brought and prosecuted by the worker's own attorney.

Anti-Kickback Law and Copeland Act

Act of June 25, 1948, U.S. Code 1952, Title 18, Section 874; Act of June 13, 1934, as amended, U.S. Code 1952, Title 40, Section 276c; Reorganization Plan No. 14 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3176, 64 Stat. 1267)

PERSONS AND EMPLOYMENTS COVERED

These laws cover not only direct Federal public building and public work but also all work financed in whole or in part with Federal funds, loans, or grants.

ENFORCEMENT

The Government agencies that let the contracts are primarily responsible for obtaining compliance with these laws and the regulations of the Secretary of Labor.

ANTI-KICKBACK LAW

This law makes it punishable by a fine up to $5,000 or by imprisonment up to 5 years, or both, for anyone, by force, intimidation, threat of procuring dismissal from employment or by any other manner whatsoever, to induce an employee on work covered by the law to give up any part of the compensation to which he has a right under his contract of employment.

COPELAND ACT

This act authorizes the Secretary of Labor to make reasonable regulations for contractors and subcontractors engaged in construction covered by the act. These regulations (29 CFR 3, as amended 29 CFR (1955 Supp.) 3) show under what conditions deductions from wages

are and are not permitted, require the contractors to present evidence that proposed deductions are proper ones, and require approval of the Department of Labor for such deductions. The act and the regulations also require the contractors to file weekly affidavits showing wages paid and deductions made. The regulations also require payroll records showing the information needed to determined whether required wages are being paid. The requirements of these regulations are made a part of every contract for a Federal or Federal-aid job.

Work Hours Act (Eight-Hour Laws)

Act of August 13, 1962; Public Law No. 581, 87th Congress, Second Session (Replacing earlier separate laws); Title 40 U.S. Code, Sections 323, 327-332

In 1962, the Work Hours Act was passed, which replaced with a single statue a group of federal "eight-hour laws" which had been enacted over a period of years beginning in 1892.

Two significant changes were made in the 1962 act: (1) under the old eight hour laws, contractors had to pay employees overtime rates (time and one-half) for work in excess of 8 hours a day. However, the contractors could require employees to work 7 full 8-hour days a week (56 hours) without paying overtime so long as work on one day did not exceed 8 hours. Under the 1962 Work Hours Act, 5 days of 8 hours each became the standard workweek, and overtime rates are required for work in excess of 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. (2) Under the 8-hour laws, the requirements for overtime payments applied only to contractors and their subcontractors involved in work contracted out directly by the federal government. Work financed by the government through loans and grants and local governments which handled the contracting themselves was not covered. The 1962 act covered not only work contracted directly by the federal government but also work on a number of federal grant and loan programs in which the work was done by states and localities. However, the new act did not cover work in which federal participation was limited only to insuring or guaranteeing private commercial loans and mortgages. The Federal Housing Administration's loan and mortgage insurance programs were thus excluded.

PERSONS AND EMPLOYMENTS COVERED

These laws apply generally to contracts, including contracts for services, made by agencies of the Federal Government, the District of Columbia, and the Territories which may require or involve the employment of laborers or mechanics, including watchmen and guards, including workmen performing services in connection with dredging or rock excavation in any river or harbor (but not seamen). Some exceptions are made in the laws, such as contracts for transportation, for communications, for supplies or such other materials or for articles. as may be bought in the open market, or work required to be done under Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (which contains its own overtime provisions). Construction, alteration, and repair including painting and decorating of the kind covered by the Davis-Bacon Act are generally covered by these laws, regardless of the amount of the