Ohio Supreme Court orders City of Cleveland to pay up in prevailing wage dispute
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This week, the Ohio Supreme Court issued an order holding the City of Cleveland in contempt for failing to abide by an August opinion awarding back pay to construction workers employed on public works projects. |
Earlier this year, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that between 1994 and 2005 Cleveland improperly paid 71 construction workers (most employed as master mechanics) an hourly rate lower than the prevailing wage required on public construction projects. In State ex rel. Mun. Constr. Equip. Operators’ Labor Council v. Cleveland (2007), 114 Ohio St.3d 183, 2007-Ohio-3831, the court awarded the workers the difference between the two rates plus post-judgment interest. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the damages totaled roughly $3.3 million.
However, the City of Cleveland interpreted the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision as awarding back pay only to the eighteen workers actually named as plaintiffs in the suit. As a result, Cleveland paid out only a fraction of the back pay award.
After several months of litigation, the Ohio Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday holding the City, Mayor Frank Jackson, and the City Council in contempt for failing to pay the unnamed workers. The court ordered the City to pay the remainder of the back pay award immediately, but did not specify what consequences the City might face if it failed to do so. The City has described the dispute as a misunderstanding and has vowed to pay immediately.
A recent cover story in Business Week Magazine estimates that employers have paid out over $1 billion in wage-and-hour disputes over the past few years. This case underscores the fact that public employers are just as vulnerable to wage-and-hour lawsuits as private employers. For advice and counsel on avoiding such litigation in your workplace, please contact any of the attorneys in FBT’s Labor and Employment Department.
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Deborah S. Adams is a member of Frost Brown Todd LLC and practices in the labor and employment law practice group. She represents management in the areas of employment discrimination and wrongful discharge.