International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Vaughn Industries, Inc.

156 Ohio App. 3d 644
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 31, 2004
DocketNos. WD-03-048 and WD-03-028
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 156 Ohio App. 3d 644 (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Vaughn Industries, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Vaughn Industries, Inc., 156 Ohio App. 3d 644 (Ohio Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Handwork, Presiding Judge.

{¶ 1} In this appeal, No. WD-03-28, the Wood County Court of Common Pleas granted summary judgment to appellee, Vaughn Industries, Inc. (“Vaughn”), and denied the motion of appellant, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union No. 8 (“IBEW”) for summary judgment.

{¶ 2} In a second appeal, No. WD-03-048, Vaughn claims that the trial court abused its discretion in denying its motion for attorney fees made pursuant to R.C. 4115.16(D).

{¶ 3} Because these issues make joinder on appeal practicable, we hereby consolidate these two appeals under the No. WD-03-048. See App.R. 3(B).

{¶ 4} From 1997 to 2000, Vaughn, a private construction contractor in the electrical, mechanical, and high voltage industry, performed work on two public projects located at Bowling Green State University in Wood County, Ohio. These projects were known as the Psychology Building Project and the Electrical Distribution System Project.

{¶ 5} IBEW is a labor organization that represents over 2,000 electrical workers in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. On March 19, 2001, IBEW filed, pursuant to R.C. 4115.16(A), two complaints (one for each of the projects) with the Administrator of the Bureau of Employment Services. The administrative complaints were supported by the two identical affidavits of Dennis C. Duffey, Business Manager of IBEW.

{¶ 6} A brief description of Ohio’s Prevailing Wage Law and its purpose is necessary before proceeding any further in our statement of the case and facts of this cause.

{¶ 7} Ohio’s Prevailing Wage Law, R.C. 4115.03 to 4115.16, “evidences a legislative intent to provide a comprehensive, uniform framework for, inter alia, worker rights and remedies vis-a-vis private contractors, sub-contractors and materialmen engaged in the construction of public improvements in this state. * * * Above all else, the primary purpose of the prevailing wage law is to support the integrity of the collective bargaining process by preventing the undercutting of employee wages in the private construction sector.” State ex rel. Evans v. Moore (1982), 69 Ohio St.2d 88, 91, 23 O.O.3d 145, 431 N.E.2d 311.

{¶ 8} R.C. 4115.16(A) allows an “interested party,” such as a labor union whose members worked for a contractor or subcontractor on a public project, see R.C. 4115.03(F), to file a complaint with the Administrator of the Bureau of Employment Services alleging a violation or violations of R.C. 4115.03 to 4115.16. The administrator must then commence an investigation of the alleged violation(s). R.C. 4115.13.

[647]*647{¶ 9} However, if the administrator fails to rule on the merits of the complaint within 60 days, R.C. 4115.16(B) provides that “the interested party may file a complaint in the court of common pleas of the county in which the violation is alleged to have occurred.” The interested party must provide a copy of the civil complaint to the administrator. R.C. 4115.16(B). At that point, the administrator is required to cease his or her investigation. Id. Any subsequent decision by a court of common pleas has the same effect as a like determination by the administrator. Id.

{¶ 10} In the case under consideration, the administrator failed to rule on the merits of the IBEW’s complaints within 60 days. Therefore, IBEW filed a civil action in the Wood County Court of Common Pleas. In Count One of its complaint, IBEW alleged that Vaughn violated various provisions of R.C. 4115.03 to 4115.16 while working on the Psychology Building Project.

{¶ 11} Specifically, IBEW asserted that Vaughn intentionally failed (1) to pay its employees the prevailing rate of wages; (2) to furnish each employee not covered by a collective bargaining agreement or understanding between an employer and a labor union “with written notification of the job classification, separated into hourly rate of pay and fringe payments, and the identity of the prevailing wage coordinator appointed by the public authority pursuant to R.C. 4115.05”; (3) to strictly comply with the wage provisions of a contract executed between Vaughn and the public authority, that is, Bowling Green State University, by failing to pay a rate of wages not less than the rate fixed in the contract, see R.C. 4115.06; (4) to conform with R.C. 4115.07 by posting, in a prominent and accessible place on the work site, a legible statement of the schedule of wage rates specified in the contract for various classifications of laborers, workers, and mechanics; (5) to prepare certified payroll reports enumerating each employee’s fringe benefit payments as required by R.C. 4115.071(C); (6) to compensate its electricians at a rate not less than the fixed prevailing rate of wages applicable for such work in Wood County in violation of R.C. 4115.10. In Count Two of its complaint, IBEW made the same allegations against Vaughn with regard to the Electrical Distribution System Project.

{¶ 12} Vaughn answered the complaint and set forth a defense of lack of subject matter jurisdiction over all claims in Count One of the complaint. Vaughn also maintained that, except for the claim that a prevailing wage was not paid to the employees who worked on the Electrical Distribution System Project, the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the remainder of the claims in Count Two.

{¶ 13} Vaughn based this defense on the fact that the form used in filing an administrative complaint with the Bureau of Employment Services has a section captioned “REASON FOR FILING COMPLAINT.” This section contains five [648]*648boxes; each box has a different area covered by R.C. Chapter 4115 as a label. These are “Prevailing wage not paid,” “Fringe benefits not paid,” “Misclassifications,” “Wages not paid,” and “Overtime.” On the complaint involving the Psychology Building Project, none of these boxes is checked. On the complaint concerning the Electrical Distribution System Project, only the “Prevailing wage not paid” box is checked.

{¶ 14} According to Vaughn, the administrative complaints did not comply with R.C. 4115.03 to R.C. 4115.16 because they failed to allege a violation or violations (except for the failure to pay the prevailing wage) of that chapter. Therefore, Vaughn concluded that because the administrator could not render a determination as to those allegations, the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the allegations listed in the civil complaint.

{¶ 15} Vaughn subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing, inter alia, that due to the defective administrative complaints, the common pleas court lacked jurisdiction over all of IBEW’s claims except the “prevailing wage not paid claim” that pertained to the Electrical Distribution System Project. In the alternative, Vaughn asserted that IBEW failed to offer facts sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact on any of its claims.

{¶ 16} IBEW filed a memorandum in opposition to Vaughn’s motion for summary judgment and its own motion for summary judgment. In its motion, IBEW abandoned all but three of the claims involving alleged violations of R.C. 4115.03 to 4115.16. These are (1) failure to provide the employees working on the named projects with individual written notice of the identity of the prevailing wage coordinator assigned to oversee compliance with R.C. 4115.05; (2) failure to comply with R.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 Ohio App. 3d 644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-brotherhood-of-electrical-workers-v-vaughn-industries-inc-ohioctapp-2004.