Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek has released the 2008–2009 Construction Wage Survey for contractors throughout the state. 

 

State law requires the Commissioner to survey contractors who have performed construction work during the past year in order to determine the prevailing wage rates. Prevailing wage rates are required to be paid on all Nevada public works construction projects — such as schools, libraries, roadways and government buildings — costing more than $100,000.

 

The surveys are due July 15, 2008, in order for the new rates to be posted by October 1, 2008, as required by Nevada law.

 

In the past, the Commissioner mailed survey packets to licensed contractors across the state.  “We would send out approximately 14,000 custom printed surveys and only get about 1,000 back,” Commissioner Tanchek said.  “With the tight budgets this year, we are making the survey available online, but we won’t be direct mailing the forms as a cost saving measure.”

 

Participants can go online to www.laborcommissioner.com, complete the form and print a hard copy for mailing.  Surveys cannot currently be filed electronically.  “The long-term goal is to have the survey done completely online as recommended by the Executive Branch Audit Committee,” Commissioner Tanchek said.  “We are working on that, but it will be some time before we can do it.”   Browsers will also find convenient links to Nevada's prevailing wage laws, as well as state-required posters and other useful information on that site.

 

Contractors who do not have access to the Internet can still request a hard copy by calling the Office of the Labor Commissioner toll-free at 1-800-992-0900, in Las Vegas at (702) 486-2795, or in Carson City at (775) 687-4850.

 

All contractors who have worked on construction projects may participate in the survey, even if they are not required to have contractors’ licenses.

 

According to Chief Assistant Carrie Foley, who oversees the data collection and calculation of the rates, the Labor Commissioner’s Office strives to ensure that the public understands how the rates are established.  “We often receive telephone calls and e-mail from people curious as to how we came up with a particular rate,” said Foley.  “The information obtained on the surveys is randomly audited and then loaded into a computer program, which calculates the prevailing wage rates on a county-by-county, job-classification basis.”

 

The Office of the Labor Commissioner uses a formula outlined in Nevada Administrative Code Chapter 338:

 

§         If the calculated rate was paid to the majority of workers in the class, that establishes the rate.

 

§         Where there is no majority, the rate is determined by the rate paid to at least 40% of workers in the class.

 

§         Where there is still no majority or 40% rate, a weighted average of all wages in proportion to the number of hours worked in a class is applied.

 

§         If no rates are received, the Commissioner considers the results of surveys conducted by other agencies.

 

§         If the rate came from a collective bargaining agreement, the Commissioner uses the rates set forth in that agreement. 

 

Commissioner Tanchek encourages all contractors, particularly those working in rural areas, to participate as precisely as possible in the prevailing wage survey to ensure that the rates established accurately reflect the rates that are being paid in a particular community. If no rates are reported for a craft in a county, the Commissioner must rely on wage rates as reported for the nearest county that has a rate. Many times a low-population county can end up with the same rate as established in Clark County for a particular craft, because no rural numbers were reported.  Participation by all contractors is the key.

 

Contractors should keep several important facts in mind when completing the survey:

 

§         All data from all contractors will be considered.  However, the information must be within survey requirements.  For example, work must be done within the specified dates and must be for a classification included in the survey.

 

§         Surveys should include wages paid on private and commercial projects.  To establish a rate reflective of what's been paid, the survey should include wages paid on all construction projects, not just publicly-funded projects.

 

§         Rural projects should be included.  The size of a project is not important.  Where the work was performed and what rate contractors paid a specific classification in a given locale are the important factors.

 

For more information, please contact Foley at mail1@laborcommissioner.com or (702) 486-2795.