Political & Legislative Updates

3 QUESTIONS WITH COMMISSIONER KROLL
How much importance does your department and this administration place on prevailing wage laws and their strong enforcement?

Strong prevailing wage enforcement has always been one of my major concerns. Also, I am sure you are aware of the administration's overall commitment to ensure compliance with the Act. The Governor's fulfilled promise of issuing his first Executive Order to provide for Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) is a clear message that he wants as the Legislature first declared regarding the Prevailing Wage Act in 1963that it "be the public policy of this State to establish a prevailing wage level for workmen engaged in public works in order to safeguard their efficiency and general well-being and to protect them as well as their employers from the effects of serious and unfair competition resulting from wage levels detrimental to efficiency and well-being."

We are tired of hearing that too many legitimate law-abiding contractors no longer want to even bid on public works projects because they know that their efforts and costs in attempting to secure such work are often fruitless in the face of willful cheaters routinely underbidding them. We will ensure that we do better in order to give reputable, honest contractors and their employees a fair chance to engage in public works projects. I am firmly convinced that contractors that abide by the law, keeping accurate payroll records to show that they truly pay prevailing wage rates, are also the contractors who perform the best work, train their employees to be qualified journeymen and keep their employees safe and healthy while on the job. They provide Workers' Compensation as required by law, and they pay all their required taxes.

Do you believe New Jersey needs additional prevailing wage regulation, or simply better enforcement of existing regulations? Though we would always like to see better enforcement of existing regulations under the Prevailing Wage Actand again we are committed to better enforcement both from the field all the way through debarment and other sanctions currently available to usI do nevertheless think we need some additional statutory tools. We are all too well aware that even after our exhaustive efforts to prove violations, contractors and subcontractors we debar can circumvent these best efforts by creating alter ego companies in someone else's name and thereby continue to operate and violate. That is why I support current efforts to explore increasing criminal penalties for willful and habitual violators to raise the current disorderly persons offense to a higher crime providing for incarceration.

Staff in our Division of Wage and Hour Compliance program responsible for Prevailing Wage Act enforcement have also expressed their view that we need to place more responsibility for compliance with the public bodies who let construction contracts. Public bodies are rightfully concerned that the various aspects of the contract specifications are adhered to with regard to quality construction and timeliness of work. Prevailing wage rates are required by law to be part of the public works contract specification and the public bodies should have just as much concern that this provision is also met.

What initiatives will your department pursue to improve the monitoring and enforcement of prevailing wage regulations in New Jersey?

One of the initiatives I have already mentioned is that we will support legislation that provides us with some sanctions and in partnering with various public bodies. We have already accomplished a significant increase in cases moving for debarment. In that regard, I have worked with the Governor's Office, the Attorney General, and the Office of Administrative Law, to ensure that we have the necessary resources in attorneys prosecuting these cases, and Administrative Law Judges providing timely hearings and decisions.

We are also holding our field staff and our managers accountable for producing quality cases submitted for timely sanctions. We continue to upgrade our technology systems to provide for better cross-match and coordination not only between the prevailing wage program and our Public Works Contractor Registration program, but also with our own and Treasury's tax operations.

Albert G. Kroll, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor, is responsible for many areas vital to the New Jersey Laborers' Union and its signatory contractors. Commissioner Kroll took a few minutes to talk with "http://www.njlaborers.org" www.njlaborers.org about his vision for the Department of Labor and his views on the state's prevailing wage laws.

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