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How a Contractor Can Save $1,200,000
A contractor can choose between providing the prevailing fringe benefit rate as additional cash wages or as bona fide benefits. The cost of paying the fringe rate as cash wages can be expensive since wages are subject to payroll taxes and payroll-based insurance premiums. In most circumstances, this includes FICA, unemployment taxes, workers compensation premiums, and liability insurance premiums. These costs are typically referred to as “labor burden” and can range between 15%–40% of payroll (depending on rates paid for workers compensation and liability insurance).
Annualization of Fringe Benefits – How to Calculate with Examples
Annualization is one of the most commonly misunderstood concepts in the Davis Bacon Act (DBA), Service Contract Act (SCA) and state laws. However, knowledge about how annualization works, and how it affects contractors’ financial obligations for bona fide benefit...
Funded vs. Unfunded Prevailing Wage Bona Fide Benefit Plans
All fringe benefit plans fall into two categories, “funded” (29 C.F.R. §§ 5.26-5.27) or “unfunded” (29 C.F.R. § 5.28). Funded plans are those where the contractor’s fringe benefit contributions are made irrevocably (funds cannot revert back to the contractor for any...
What Qualifies as a Bona Fide Fringe Benefit
What is a Bona Fide Fringe Benefit Merriam-Webster defines bona fide as: Made in good faith without fraud or deceit; Made with earnest intent: sincere Neither specious or counterfeit: genuine. The Davis Bacon Act (DBA) prevailing wage rate is made up of two...
Employee Retention via Core Values
I am sometimes shocked when I look at the differences across our construction company clients. Not so much by the different types of work that they do, but more so in their approach to business and even more specifically in their approach to their team. We have...
Construction Labor Scarcity Despite Record Numbers of Employment
The US Chamber of Commerce has recently released data showing 61% of contractors nationwide have experienced difficulty finding skilled workers over the last three months. Many believe a perfect storm including record amounts of construction projects combined...
Table of Experts-Prevailing Wage
The Albany Business Review hosted three experts to discuss how prevailing wage impacts the construction industry, labor unions, wages and the economy. Table of Experts-Albany Business ReviewDownload
4 Factors to Consider When Deciding how to Satisfy Fringe Benefit Requirements
There are a multitude of factors to consider when deciding what type of strategy to implement to satisfy the fringe benefit requirements of the prevailing wage laws. Some factors include: 1. The amount of your work that is subject to prevailing wage law: • The more...
How to Calculate Annualization
As stated in the U.S. Department of Labor Prevailing Wage Resource book, “Annualization is a computational method used to determine the hourly rate of benefit plan contributions that are creditable towards a contractors’ prevailing wage fringe benefit obligation on covered projects.”
Creative Plan Design Can Eliminate Annualization Requirements
All Merit shop construction companies working on projects covered by the Davis-Bacon Act or state prevailing wage laws have to make decisions on how to satisfy the fringe benefit portion of the prevailing wage law.
Case Study – An Easy Win-Win for Employer and Employees
In New York, the prevailing wage and fringe benefit rate must be paid on all public work hours. Contractors may satisfy the fringe benefit portion of the prevailing wage by either paying the prevailing benefit rate as additional cash wages, or by providing bona fide benefits that at least equal the rate.
3 Primary Reasons to Utilize a Trust Fund for Prevailing Wage Funded Benefit Plans
Construction companies as well as other government contractors that are subject to prevailing wage laws (Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act, State Prevailing Wage laws) can satisfy the fringe benefit requirements by making irrevocable contributions to specialized benefit funds on behalf of covered workers.
Prevailing Wage Expansion in New York
The New York State legislature is poised to pass a comprehensive revision of the prevailing wage law, extending prevailing wage requirements to a far wider scope of work than ever before. An interesting article covering this can be found in the Albany Times Union here.
Top 10 Criteria for choosing a prevailing wage benefit plan provider
Construction companies that work on public works projects covered by the Davis-Bacon Act or state prevailing wage laws are required to follow very specific rules related to bona fide fringe benefits. Choosing the right benefit plan provider / consultant takes careful...
Top 5 Reasons Construction Companies Should Offer Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Plans
Competition for good workers has never been higher. What better way to secure your workforce during a work slowdown or seasonal shut down than to provide them with cash benefits so that they can enjoy their time-off rather than look for work elsewhere.
Plan Now Bid more Competitively in 2019
As many contractors are wrapping up their work before the bad weather sets in, the time is coming to plan for next year.
Court Rejects Motion to Dismiss in Fringe Benefit Group (Contractors Plan) Excessive Fee Class Action Litigation
The Austin, Texas based Fringe Benefit Group (also known as The Contractors Plan), a pension and welfare benefit plan administrator was named in a class action suit for allegedly charging “sky-high” and “grossly excessive” direct and indirect fees for their...
Utilizing a hybrid approach to bona fide benefits to manage annualization concerns
Annualization is the one most commonly misunderstood concepts in the Davis-Bacon Act and state prevailing wage laws. However, knowledge about how annualization works, and how it affects a contractors’ financial obligations for benefit plans, is critical for all businesses engaged in public works.
short work week supplemental unemployment benefits
Short-week supplemental unemployment benefits ARE TAXABLE under FICA unless they meet certain IRS requirements
Success Story: How to Provide $29.00 per hour in Fringe Benefits
Background: Type of Contractor: Electrical Construction # of Employees: Approximately 30 Our featured company is an electrical contractor who works predominately on projects covered by the Davis-Bacon Act. No employee benefits have been offered to the employees and...
