Court again defines prevailing wage limits - Business First of Columbus:

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In its second high-profile ruling on Ohio’s prevailing wage law in as many the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesdag said the statute applies only to constructionj work ona “public improvement.” The unanimous decision, authored by Justic e Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, statew that the prevailing wage law doesn’t extendr to work on private projectzs that are partially funded by state and countyh incentives. Fellhauer Mechanical Systems Inc.
, a plumbing and electrical company in Port had been taken to court by the Northwesternb Ohio Building Trades Council over concerns that workersd on a company expansion project partially funded by state and localincentives weren’t receiving union-scals wages. The state law generally requiree employees working directly on government buildingsd and other public improvements be paid at a rate similatr to what union workers are paid for doing similar work inthe region. The tradesw council unsuccessfully sought a restraininv order and later took its case in a Toledkappeals court, which affirmed the lower court’s decision.
The councilo then took the case for revieebefore Ohio’s high court. Writing in Tuesday’ds opinion, Stratton says the council’s argumeng that a private projec helped by public funds fallwsunder prevailing-wage provisions would “unjustifiably expand the scope of prevailingv wage to include projects that are not publivc improvements, that are not constructed by a public authority, or that do not benefit a public authority.” The project in Stratton wrote, isn’t a project taken on by a public body or builrt by a contractor on behalf of one. Ohio Gov.
Ted Stricklansd issued guidelines last year that required all projectw using state money to applgy prevailingwage law. The court’s decisionh appears to reversethe governor’s guidelines. A spokeswoman for the governortsaid Strickland’s office is “currently reviewing” the court’ss decision. The court less than two weeka ago shortened the reach of the wage law ina 6-1 ruling that it applies only to companieas working directly on public-improvemeny project sites.
The case hit the Supreme Court aftedr an Ohio company was sued sued by an area labor unio representing an employee who worked in a fabricatioj shop that supplied products to a publicconstruction