Wages+and+Working+Conditions+2



=//Gisselle, Roberto, Daniel//=

=**D.B.R.A (**Official Web-site**)**=

 The Davis Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) requires all contractors and subcontractors performing work on federal or District of Columbia construction contracts or federally assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 to pay their laborers and mechanics not less than the prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits for corresponding classes of laborers and mechanics employed on similar projects in the area. The prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits are determined by the Secretary of Labor for inclusion in covered contracts. Apprentices may be employed at less than predetermined rates if they are in an apprenticeship program registered with the Department of Labor or with a state apprenticeship agency recognized by the Department. Trainees may be employed at less than predetermined rates if they are in a training program certified by the Department. Contractors and subcontractors on prime contracts in excess of $100,000 are required, pursuant to the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, to pay employees one and one-half times their basic rates of pay for all hours over 40 worked on covered contract work in a workweek. Covered contractors and subcontractors are also required to pay employees weekly and to submit weekly certified payroll records to the contracting agency.

The act is named after its Republican sponsors, James J Davis, a Senator from Pennsylvania and a former Secretary of Labor under three presidents, and Representative Robert L. Bacon of Long Island, New York. The Davis-Bacon act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1931.

 Under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA), covered contractors must maintain payrolls and basic records and submit certified weekly payrolls. Although use of [|Form WH-347] is optional, the form will satisfy the requirements of Regulations, Parts 3 and 5 (29 CFR, Subtitle A), as to payrolls submitted in connection with contracts subject to the DBRA. Records to be maintained include:
 * Name, address, and social security number of each employee;
 * Each employee's work classification(s);
 * Hourly rate(s) of pay (including rates of contributions or costs anticipated for bona fide fringe benefits or cash equivalents thereof);
 * Daily and weekly numbers of hours worked;
 * Deductions made; and
 * Actual wages paid.

Amendments
The Davis-Bacon Act was amended in 1935 to ensure that contractors bidding on public works projects would not lower wages in order achieve a lower bid; and to permit government agencies, which were required to accept the lowest bids, to employ contractors who paid a fair wage. The Act was modified again in 1964 to include fringe benefits in the calculation of prevailing wages. In 1994, the Davis-Bacon act was amended so that the construction, renovation or repair of buildings used by Head Start programs are also subject to the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act.

Suspensions
In 1934 President Franklin Roosevelt suspended the Act for three weeks in order to manage administrative adjustments in light of the New Deal. The Davis-Bacon Act was suspended by President Richard Nixon for 28 days in February 1971 in an effort to reduce inflation pressures. Labor Secretary Peter J. Brennan accused the Nixon administration of treating construction workers as patsies. Shortly afterward, Nixon reinstated Davis-Bacon enforcement and ordered the establishment of the Construction Industry Stabilization Committee. In September 1992 President George H. W. Bush indefinitely suspended the Davis-Bacon Act during the recovery from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. After Bill Clinton became president, he reinstated the Act in March 1993. On September 7, 2005, President George W Bush, citing a national emergency, again suspended the Act in the areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. He reinstated it on October 26, 2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Bacon_Act http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-dbra.htm#overview

=F.L.S.A (Official Web-site)=

The **Fair Labor Standards Act** **(FLSA)** of 1938 is     United States federal law     that  establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. A  ll employees must be classified by their employer as either exempt or nonexempt for purposes of complying with the FLSA [[|1]]. T here are a number of employment practices which FLSA does not regulate. For example, FLSA does //not// require: Minimum Wage: The federal minimum wage provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009 – it was stared at 40 cents back in 1938. Many states also have minimum wage laws. Some state laws provide greater employee protections; employers must comply with both. Deductions made from wages for such items as cash or merchandise shortages, employer-required uniforms, and tools of the trade, are not legal to the extent that they reduce the wages of employees below the minimum rate required by FLSA or reduce the amount of overtime pay due under FLSA. For more information about the history of changes to the Minimum Wage Law visit: []
 * 1) vacation, holiday, severance, or sick pay;
 * 2) meal or rest periods, holidays off, or vacations;
 * 3) premium pay for weekend or holiday work;
 * 4) pay raises or fringe benefits; or
 * 5) a discharge notice, reason for discharge, or immediate payment of final wages to terminated employees.

Overtime
Covered nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 per workweek (any fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods) at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay. There is no limit on the number of hours employees 16 years or older may work in any workweek. The FLSA does not require overtime pay for work on weekends, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days. The overtime requirement may not be waived by agreement between the employer and employees. An agreement that only 8 hours a day or only 40 hours a week will be counted as working time also fails the test of FLSA compliance. An announcement by the employer that no overtime work will be permitted, or that overtime work will not be paid for unless authorized in advance, also will not impair the employee's right to compensation for compensable overtime hours that are worked. Hours Worked: Hours worked ordinarily include all the time during which an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. For information about Minimum Wage and Overtime Laws in the States visit: []

Recordkeeping
Employers must keep employee time and pay records. Every covered employer must keep certain records for each non-exempt worker. The Act requires no particular form for the records, but does require that the records include certain identifying information about the employee and data about the hours worked and the wages earned. The law requires this information to be accurate. The following is a listing of the basic records that an employer must maintain: 14. Date of payment and the pay period covered by the payment. These records must be kept for a minimum of two years.
 * 1) Employee's full name and social security number.
 * 2) Address, including zip code.
 * 3) Birth date, if younger than 19.
 * 4) Sex and occupation.
 * 5) Time and day of week when employee's workweek begins.
 * 6) Hours worked each day.
 * 7) Total hours worked each workweek.
 * 8) Basis on which employee's wages are paid (e.g., "$9 per hour", "$440 a week", "piecework")
 * 9) Regular hourly pay rate.
 * 10) Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings.
 * 11) Total overtime earnings for the workweek.
 * 12) All additions to or deductions from the employee's wages.
 * 13) Total wages paid each pay period.

Youth Employment
The federal youth employment provisions, authorized by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, also known as the child labor laws, were enacted to ensure that when young people work, the work is safe and does not jeopardize their health, well-being or educational opportunities[[|2]]. The following video by Constance Walters, Esq.[[|3]], gives an overview of FLSA. media type="youtube" key="HZoei1TveQc" height="340" width="560"

[1] [] [2] [] [3] []

=M.S.H.A (Official Web-site)=  MSHA's Mission

The mission of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is to administer the provisions of the [|Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act)], as amended by the [|Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act)], and to enforce compliance with mandatory safety and health standards as a means to eliminate fatal accidents; to reduce the frequency and severity of nonfatal accidents; to minimize health hazards; and to promote improved safety and health conditions in the Nation's mines.

====The Mine Safety and Health Administration is an agency that oversees the enforcement of the [|Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act)], which amended the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act (Mine Act). The Mine Act, which was enacted on November 9, 1977, was an amendment of the [|Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969 (Coal Act)].====

The agency uses many mandatory safety and health standards to help protect the mine workers from potentially fatal work environments, to limit the number of nonfatal accidents and minimize health hazards. As long as the resources which are mined are eventually sold, they are required to follow the standards set forth by these acts.

=__**The Coal Act**__=

The first of the acts, The Coal Act, stated that there would be 2 inspections a year for every surface mine and every 4 years for every underground mine. The act also required monetary penalties for violations and criminal penalties for knowingly committing a violation. Another thing the act dig was provide compensation for miners who suffered from a condition called "black lung."

=__The Mine Act__=

The Mine Act is an amendment of the previous Coal Act. Some of the major provisions are:

Main provisions

 * combination of coal, metal and non metal mines under single legislation
 * retention of separate health and safety standards for coal mining
 * transfer of enforcement from the Department of Interior to the Department of Labor
 * renaming of the Mine Enforcement Safety Administration (MESA) as [|Mine Safety and Health Administration] (MSHA)
 * **four annual inspections of underground coal mines**
 * two annual inspections of all surface mines
 * elimination of advisory standards for metal and nonmetal mines
 * discontinuation of state enforcement **plans**
 * mandating of miner training
 * requirement of mine rescue teams for all underground mines
 * provision of increased involvement of miners and their representatives in health and safety activities

=**__The Miner Act__**=

 The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006, also known as the MINER Act, was signed by President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006. This legislation, the most significant mine safety legislation in 30 years, amends the Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 and contains a number of provisions to improve safety and health in America's mines.

Key provisions of the MINER Act will:
 * Require each covered mine to develop and continuously update a written emergency response plan;
 * Promote use of equipment and technology that is currently commercially available;
 * Require each mine's emergency response plan to be continuously reviewed, updated and re-certified by MSHA every six months;
 * Direct the Secretary of Labor to require wireless two-way communications and an electronic tracking system within three years, permitting those on the surface to locate persons trapped underground;
 * Require each mine to make available two experienced rescue teams capable of a one hour response time;
 * Require mine operators to make notification of all incidents/accidents which pose a reasonable risk of death within 15 minutes, and sets a civil penalty of $5,000 to $60,000 for mine operators who fail to do so;
 * Establish a competitive grant program for new mine safety technology to be administered by NIOSH;
 * Establish an interagency working group to provide a formal means of sharing non-classified technology that would have applicability to mine safety;
 * Raising the criminal penalty cap to $250,000 for first offenses and $500,000 for second offenses, as well as establishing a maximum civil penalty of $220,000 for flagrant violations;
 * Give MSHA the power to request an injunction (shutting down a mine) in cases where the mine has refused to pay a final order MSHA penalty;
 * Create a scholarship program available to miners and those who wish to become miners and MSHA enforcement staff to head off an anticipated shortage in trained and experienced miners and MSHA enforcement;
 * Establish the Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants program to provide training grants to better identify, avoid and prevent unsafe working conditions in and around the mines. These grants will be made on an annual, competitive basis to provide education and training for employers and miners, with a special emphasis on smaller mines.

Inspection of Off-Road Haulage trucks by MSHA workers media type="youtube" key="yRUVWtpUE5M" height="344" width="425"  [] [|Mission Statement] [] []



=M.S.P.A (Official Web-site)=

 ** The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ** protects migrant and seasonal agricultural workers by establishing employment standards related to wages, housing, transportation, disclosures and recordkeeping. In order to legally operate as farm labor contractors, individuals and companies must register with the U.S. Department of Labor. There are special registration requirements for farm labor contractors that intend to house, transport, or drive a migrant or seasonal agricultural worker. Farm labor contractors and farm labor contractor employees who perform farm labor contractor activities must carry proof of registration and show it to workers, agricultural employers, agricultural associations, and any other person with whom they deal as contractors.

 **Wages**
Agricultural associations, agricultural employers, and farm labor contractors must pay workers their wages when due, and give workers itemized, written statements of earnings for each pay period, including any amount deducted and the reasons for the deduction.

** Housing **
Each person or organization which owns or controls a facility or real property used for housing migrant workers must comply with federal and state safety and health standards. A written statement of the terms and conditions of occupancy must be posted at the housing site where it can be seen or be given to the workers.

** Transportation **
Agricultural associations, agricultural employers, and farm labor contractors must assure that vehicles used or caused to be used by a farm labor contractor, agricultural employer, or agricultural association to transport workers are properly insured, are operated by licensed drivers, and meet federal and state safety standards.

** Disclosure **
Employers must provide each migrant and seasonal day-haul worker with a written disclosure at the time of recruitment that describes the terms and conditions of his or her employment. When offering employment, the employer must provide such disclosure to all seasonal workers upon request. The disclosure must be written in the worker's language. The employer must also post in a conspicuous place at the job site a poster setting forth the rights and protections that the MSPA affords workers. A housing provider must post or present to each worker a statement of the terms and conditions of occupancy.

** Payroll records **
Each farm labor contractor, agricultural employer, and agricultural association that employs migrant or seasonal agricultural workers must make and keep the following records for each worker: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Each farm labor contractor, agricultural employer, and agricultural association that employs migrant or seasonal agricultural workers must keep all payroll records for each worker for a period of three years. When a farm labor contractor employs migrant or seasonal agricultural workers for an agricultural employer, agricultural association, or other farm labor contractor, the employer must also provide these payroll records for each employee. The person receiving these records must maintain them for a period of three years.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Name, permanent address, and Social Security number
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Basis on which wages are paid
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Number of piecework units earned, if paid on a piecework basis
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Number of hours worked
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Total pay period earnings
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Specific sums withheld and the purpose of each sum withheld
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Net pay

** Employee Rights **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The MSPA provides migrant agricultural workers and day-haul seasonal agricultural workers the right to receive written notice of the terms and conditions of their employment when recruited. In addition, it provides seasonal workers the right to receive such notification upon the worker's request. The MSPA also requires employers of migrants and seasonal agricultural workers to adhere to the disclosed terms and conditions of employment. Certain exemptions and exclusions apply to these provisions. The MSPA gives migrant and seasonal agricultural workers the right to file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division, file a private lawsuit under the Act (or cause a complaint or lawsuit to be filed), or testify or cooperate with an investigation or lawsuit in other ways without being intimidated, threatened, restrained, coerced, blacklisted, discharged, or discriminated against in any manner.

** Penalties/Sanctions **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Violations of the MSPA may result in civil money penalties, back wage assessments, and revocations of certificates of registration. Violations may also result in civil or criminal actions instituted by the Department of Labor against any person found in violation of the Act. Civil money penalties up to $1,000 may be assessed for each violation. Criminal conviction for first time violators may result in one year in prison and a $1,000 fine; repeat convictions can result in up to three years in prison and $10,000 in fines. In addition, individuals whose MSPA rights have been violated may seek civil money damages in federal court. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[]

=O.S.H.A (Official Web-site)=


 * O.S.H.A. stands for "Occupational Safety and Health Administration**".** It is an agency of the United States Department of Labor, and it was created by Congress in order to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and occupational fatality by issuing and enforcing rules called standards for workplace safety and health . It was signed into effect by the 37th President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970 as the Occupational Safety and Health Act.


 * The following video gives a farely good overview of what O.S.H.A. is about...

media type="youtube" key="W8Gf2Wg1FJs" height="412" width="509" align="center"

//(Information obtained from official US websites.)//
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