Tile, Marble & Terrazzo
  1. Home
  2. Labor Facts

Wicks Reform 2008

WICKS Reform 2008
(For all contracts advertised or solicited for bid on or after 7/1/08)
 

  • For projects below the monetary threshold, bidders must submit a sealed list naming each subcontractor for the plumbing, HVAC and electrical work and the amount to be paid to each. The list may not be changed unless the public owner finds a legitimate construction need, including a change in specifications or costs or use of a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), and must be open to public inspection.

 

  •  Allows the state and local agencies and authorities to waive the Wicks Law and use a PLA if it will provide the best work at the lowest possible price. If a PLA is used, all contractors shall participate in apprentice training programs in the trades of work it employs that have been approved by the Department of Labor (DOL) for not less than three years. They shall also have at least one graduate in the last three years and use affirmative efforts to retain minority apprentices. PLA’s would be exempt from Wicks, but deemed to be public work subject to prevailing wage enforcement.

 

  • The Commissioner of Labor shall have the power to enforce separate specification requirements on projects, and may issue stop-bid orders against public owners for non-compliance.

 

  • Other new monetary thresholds, and similar sealed bidding for non-Wicks projects, would apply to certain public authorities including municipal housing authorities, NYC Construction Fund, Yonkers Educational Construction Fund, NYC Municipal Water Finance Authority, Buffalo Municipal Water Finance Authority, Westchester County Health Care Association, Nassau County Health Care Corp., Clifton-Fine Health Care Corp., Erie County Medical Center Corp., NYC Solid Waste Management Facilities, and the Dormitory Authority.

 

  • Reduces from 15 to 7 days the period in which contractors must pay subcontractors.
    Raises the threshold for public work projects subject to the Wicks Law requiring separate specifications and bidding for the plumbing, heating and electrical work. The total project’s threshold would increase from $50,000 to: $3 million in Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond counties; $1.5 million in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties; and $500,000 in all other counties.