For decades, the Maine Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has been establishing minimum wages for state funded construction projects without controversy.  However, a change in the methodology utilized by the Bureau combined with the introduction of wages paid to natural gas pipeline workers resulted in elevated rates throughout the state for the year 2000.  The Associated Constructors of Maine filed an administrative appeal, which was joined in by the Maine Turnpike Authority.  The appeal was opposed by the AFL-CIO and the Maine Building Trades Council.

The minimum wages, or "prevailing wages," as they are commonly referred to, are established in accordance with a series of Maine statutes similar to those requiring minimum wages on federally funded projects.  Although legally applicable only to state funded projects, the minimum wages mandated by the statute are believed by many to have a carry over impact on privately funded projects.  Previously, the Bureau of Labor Statistics had calculated wages for four separate regions, based on rates paid during the second and third weeks of September of the previous year.  For the year 2000, the Bureau began utilizing a single state-wide set of rates, despite statutory language requiring that wages be those "in the locality in like construction."
As a result of the appeal, Department of Labor Commissioner Valerie Landry ruled in July that the Bureau acted improperly when it calculated rates on a state-wide basis, since the impact of the gas pipeline workers' wages would be felt state-wide, instead of only in those regions in which the construction took place.  Commissioner Landry ordered that the rates be recalculated on a regional basis.  In addition, she ordered that the Bureau initiate rulemaking, which will entail public input and scrutiny, to establish standardized procedures for applying the prevailing wage law.

The Department of Labor's decision to overrule its own Bureau of Labor Statistics has now been appealed to the Maine Superior Court by the AFL-CIO.  The burden of overturning an administrative agency's order is a difficult one.  In any event, the order requiring rulemaking will remain in effect, giving interested entities and members of the general public the opportunity to provide input into this important precedent setting process.

The Maine Turnpike Authority was represented by Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau, Pachios & Haley, LLC.