Client Alert: A Project Partially Financed With Public Funds Does Not Automatically Trigger A Prevailing Wage Obligation

The use of public funds on a portion of a project does not, by itself, require the payment of prevailing wages on the entire project. In Northwestern Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council v. Ottawa County Improvement Corporation, a unanimous Supreme Court of Ohio held that “the prevailing-wage law applies only when a public authority, including an institution, spends public funds to construct a ‘public improvement,’ which by definition must be constructed by a public authority or must benefit a public authority.” The Court issued its decision on June 30, 2009.

Click on the link below to download the July 1, 2009 Client Alert which discusses this decision.