In April of 2020, Governor Northam of Virginia signed Senate Bill 838 and House Bill 123. These bills amend the Virginia Wage Payment Act and are designed to support workers and Virginia’s economy as it rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, these updates significantly increase potential penalties against employers who may not be properly paying their employees and create additional responsibilities for Virginia’s general contractors (GCs).
GC’s are now potentially liable for their subcontractor’s wage violations. As explained by Williams Mullen: “The Wage Theft Law makes it clear that it holds the GC to be an “employer” of its subcontractors’ employees for purposes of ensuring proper pay practices. In turn, employees under the law can sue GCs and hold them jointly and severally liable for the subcontractor’s violations.”
Below are a few key points to note regarding exceptions and applicability:
Outside of having to consult with their legal advisors about the law, GC firms will need to consider how to document and archive who’s on their sites at all times, including any classifications per person, so they have workforce construction data to support any arising claims. Since the Wage Theft Law allows for the availability of increased damages for prevailing employees, it could bring an onslaught of new claims in Virginia. To stay protected, the collection and archiving of construction data that shows who was on each project (and when) will help support general contractors and limit costly litigation.
The Eyrus Platform can support GCs with VA’s Wage Theft Laws with the below capabilities:
In addition to supporting general contractors with the collection and management of their workforce construction data, Eyrus provides construction worker safety benefits and features, real-time construction data and zoning, virtual constaccess control, and support for COVID-19 protocols.
If you would like to learn more about supporting your firm with comprehensive workforce solutions, click the link below to send us a message, or reach out to KnowMore@eyrus.com.
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