§3144 — Title 40 Public Buildings, Property, and Works | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Labor must pay laborers and mechanics directly from any contract money the government is holding back when those workers are owed wages. If that money does not cover all the unpaid workers, the workers can sue the contractor and the contractor’s sureties to get paid. It is not a valid defense that the workers agreed to lower pay or gave money back. The Comptroller General will give every federal agency a list of people found to have failed to pay employees or subcontractors. No federal contract may be awarded to anyone on that list, or to any firm they have an interest in, until three years after the list is published.

Title 40, §3144

Public Buildings, Property, and Works — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)The Secretary of Labor shall pay directly to laborers and mechanics from any accrued payments withheld under the terms of a contract any wages found to be due laborers and mechanics under this subchapter.

(2)If the accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contract are insufficient to reimburse all the laborers and mechanics who have not been paid the wages required under this subchapter, the laborers and mechanics have the same right to bring a civil action and intervene against the contractor and the contractor’s sureties as is conferred by law on persons furnishing labor or materials. In those proceedings it is not a defense that the laborers and mechanics accepted or agreed to accept less than the required rate of wages or voluntarily made refunds.

(b)(1)The Comptroller General shall distribute to all departments of the Federal Government a list of the names of persons whom the Comptroller General has found to have disregarded their obligations to employees and subcontractors.

(2)No contract shall be awarded to persons appearing on the list or to any firm, corporation, partnership, or association in which the persons have an interest until three years have elapsed from the date of publication of the list.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 3144(a)(1)40:276a–2(a) (1st sentence words before semicolon).Mar. 3, 1931, ch. 411, § 3, 46 Stat. 1494; Aug. 30, 1935, ch. 825, 49 Stat. 1012. 3144(a)(2)40:276a–2(b). 3144(b)40:276a–2(a) (1st sentence words after semicolon, last sentence). In subsection (b), the words “or firms” are omitted as being included in “persons”.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2013—Pub. L. 113–50, § 2(a)(1), struck out “of Comptroller General” after “Authority” in section catchline. Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 113–50, § 2(a)(2), substituted “Secretary of Labor” for “Comptroller General”.

§3144 Authority to pay wages and list contractors violating contracts