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Committee advances wide-ranging prevailing wage revisions, narrows nonprofit exemption and tightens contractor definitions
Summary
Supervisor Scott Wiener's amendments to the city's prevailing wage ordinance expand covered contracts, create a six-month employee transition period, narrow a nonprofit exemption to carve out work-experience programs for people with disabilities, and redefine certain independent contractors as employees; the committee voted to send the item to the full Board with amendments and BAO cost estimates.
Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced revisions to the San Francisco prevailing wage ordinance that would broaden covered contract types, consolidate enforcement standards, add a six-month transition/retention period for workers when contracts change, and clarify that work covered by city contracts must be performed by employees rather than independent contractors in certain sectors.
Wiener said his office worked with departments, nonprofits, and labor to remove a broad nonprofit exemption and instead propose a narrower exclusion for nonprofits that provide work experience to persons with disabilities. He also read into the record language intended to make clear the ordinance applies only to contracts entered into by the city specifically for janitorial services on city-owned or -leased property, not to contracts for nonprofit-operated shelters or programs where janitorial work is incidental.
Donna Levitt of the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement explained enforcement concerns that have arisen when owner-operators or independent contractors are used in place of employees (for example in hauling contracts), arguing that payment mechanisms and variable owner-operator costs make prevailing-wage enforcement virtually impossible unless workers are in employer-employee relationships. BAO presented cost estimates: about $484,000 for extending prevailing wage to certain nonprofit janitorial contractors (before the recent carve-out for disabilities programs) and roughly $630,000 associated with converting solid-waste hauling arrangements that rely on independent contractors to employee-based models. Labor unions and worker advocates testified in support; HSA and DPH representatives said the amended language addresses their concerns. The committee adopted Wiener's amendments and voted to forward the ordinance to the Board with a positive recommendation, noting departments and the sponsor will continue fine-tuning definitions for employee status.
