Tap Electrical Contracting Service, Inc. v. Hartnett

207 A.D.2d 547, 616 N.Y.S.2d 86, 1994 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8533

Opinion

— Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 to review a final order and determination of the Commissioner of Labor of the State of New York, dated February 6, 1991, made upon remittitur from an order and decision of this Court dated December 22, 1989 (see, Matter of Tap Elec. Contr. Serv. v Hartnett, 156 AD2d 612, mod 76 NY2d 164), which modified a prior order and determination of the Commissioner of Labor dated October 31, 1989, by revising the amounts of underpayments reflecting wage supplements not covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 USC § 1001 et seq.), which the petitioner had failed to pay to or on behalf of 28 employees, in willful violation of Labor Law article 8.

Adjudged that the petition is granted, on the law, without costs or disbursements, to the extent of annulling the first, second, and third decretal paragraphs of the final order and determination dated February 6, 1991, the petition is denied in all other respects and the final order and determination dated February 6, 1991, is confirmed to the extent that it affirmed the order and determination dated October 31, 1989, insofar as modified by the decision and order of this Court dated December 22, 1989 (see, Matter of Tap Elec. Contr. Serv. v Hartnett, 156 AD2d 612, mod 76 NY2d 164, supra).

In January 1985 the petitioner entered into a contract with the New York State Department of Transportation to replace lighting on a 12.75-mile section of the Northern State Parkway. The project was funded by the Federal and State Governments. Pursuant to Labor Law § 220, the State’s prevailing wage law, the petitioner provided supplements to its workers through a combination of benefits and lump sum cash payments. Four of the supplement plans were covered and governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 USC § 1001 et seq.) (hereinafter the ERISA supplements). Three other supplements, specifically, vacation and holiday pay, supplemental unemployment benefits, and benefit fund supplements, were non-ERISA supplements (hereinafter the non-ERISA supplements). Furthermore, in order to comply with the applicable prevailing wage-rate schedules, the petitioner was required to pay additional amounts towards both the ERISA and the non-ERISA supplements. This the peti[548] tioner did through weekly cash payments directly to its employees (hereinafter the weekly cash payments).

As a result of an investigation by the New York State Department of Labor, the petitioner was charged, inter alia, with willfully violating Labor Law § 220 by (1) underpaying prevailing wages and supplements to three individuals whom the petitioner had erroneously classified as "trainees”; (2) failing to pay prevailing supplements to or on behalf of 28 other employees; and (3) employing an excessive number of apprentices in violation of the applicable apprentice ratio as required by the prevailing wage schedule in the contract. In an order and determination dated October 31, 1989, the Commissioner of the Department of Labor (hereinafter the Commissioner) determined that the petitioner had willfully violated Labor Law § 220 with respect to all of the above allegations. Since this was the petitioner’s second final determination of a willful violation of the prevailing wage law within a six-year period, the petitioner was barred from bidding on any public work contract for five years.

The petitioner commenced a CPLR article 78 proceeding in this Court for review of the Commissioner’s determination, arguing, inter alia, that Labor Law § 220 was preempted by ERISA. In accordance with General Elec. Co. v New York State Dept. of Labor (891 F2d 25, cert denied 496 US 912), this Court concurred that ERISA preempted the Commissioner’s determination insofar as it related to petitioner’s ERISA supplements, and the matter was remitted to the Commissioner to calculate the amount by which petitioner had underpaid the non-ERISA supplements (see, Matter of Tap Elec. Contr. Serv. v Hartnett, supra).

In recalculating the amount of the petitioner’s non-ERISA supplement underpayments, rather than applying the full amount of the weekly cash payments to the non-ERISA supplements, the Commissioner apportioned those payments between the ERISA supplements and the non-ERISA supplements. He did so according to the manner in which the petitioner had originally intended to allocate its payments to the supplements (i.e., if, when the weekly cash payments were made, the petitioner intended that 50% of the payments were to cover non-ERISA supplements; then, when recalculating the amount of the non-ERISA underpayments, the Commissioner credited only 50% of the payments to non-ERISA supplements).

In an order and determination dated February 6, 1991, the [549] Commissioner again concluded that the petitioner had willfully underpaid the non-ERISA supplements, but by an amount less than previously determined. Thus, he modified his October 1989 order and determination to reflect this, but otherwise affirmed that order, particularly as it related to determining that the petitioner had underpaid prevailing wages and supplements to the three employees petitioner had erroneously classified as "trainees”, and barring the petitioner from bidding on public work projects until November 1994. The petitioner subsequently commenced this second CPLR article 78 proceeding to review the Commissioner’s February 1991 order claiming, inter alia, that because the order applied a portion of the weekly cash payments to ERISA supplements, the order "related to” and, therefore, was preempted by, ERISA.

It is well settled that ERISA was "designed to have a sweeping preemptive effect in the employee benefit plan field” (American Progressive Life & Health Ins. Co. v Corcoran, 715 F2d 784, 786; see, 29 USC § 1144 [a]; Ingersoll-Rand Co. v McClendon, 498 US 133), and that all State laws that relate to employee benefit plans are preempted (see, General Elec. Co. v New York State Dept. of Labor, 891 F2d 25, 29, supra). Before addressing the issue of whether the Commissioner’s order "relates to” and, therefore, is preempted by, ERISA, we note that the order constitutes a "State law” within the meaning of ERISA (see, 29 USC § 1144 [c] [1]; National El. Indus. v Calhoon, 957 F2d 1555, 1557-1558, cert denied — US —, 113 S Ct 406).

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Tap Electrical Contracting Service, Inc. v. Hartnett, 207 A.D.2d 547, 616 N.Y.S.2d 86, 1994 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8533 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1994).

207 A.D.2d 547 (Tap Electrical Contracting Service, Inc. v. Hartnett) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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