Vermont labor commissioner opposes payroll-certification requirement in prevailing-wage bill

Michael Harrington, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor, told a legislative committee that the department does not support a provision in a prevailing-wage bill that would require certified payroll submissions from state contractors.

Harrington said the department already has remedies when workers are underpaid under Vermont's prevailing-wage rules and that forcing certified-payroll review would impose substantial administrative burdens on contractors and on state agencies while creating privacy and capacity problems.

Harrington said, "we certainly did not put forth this request, and we don't support it," adding that the department's wage-and-hour unit investigates complaints and can determine whether an individual was paid additional wages owed under prevailing-wage law. He said those procedures create a complaint-driven remedy for workers who were miscoded or underpaid: "the department operates our wage and hour unit, and so the role…