Applicability; wages, hours, and other requirements
HRS §104-2
in effect104-2. Applicability; wages, hours, and other requirements
(a) This chapter shall apply to every contract in excess of $2,000 for construction of a public work project to which a governmental contracting agency is a party; provided that this chapter shall not apply to experimental and demonstration housing developed pursuant to section 46-15 or housing developed pursuant to chapter 201H if the cost of the project is less than $500,000 and the eligible bidder or eligible developer is a private nonprofit corporation.
For the purposes of this subsection:
"Contract" includes but is not
limited to any agreement, purchase order, or voucher in excess of $2,000 for
construction of a public work project.
"Governmental contracting agency"
includes:
(1) Any person or entity that causes either directly
or indirectly the building or development of a public work; and
(2) Any public-private partnership.
"Party" includes eligible bidders for
and eligible developers of any public work and any housing under chapter 201H;
provided that this subsection shall not apply to any housing developed under
section 46-15 or chapter 201H if the entire cost of the project is less than
$500,000 and the eligible bidder or eligible developer is a private nonprofit
corporation.
(b) Every laborer and mechanic performing work
on the job site for the construction of any public work project shall be paid
no less than prevailing wages; provided that:
(1) The prevailing wages shall be established by the
director as the sum of the basic hourly rate and the cost to an employer of
providing a laborer or mechanic with fringe benefits. In making prevailing
wage determinations, the following shall apply:
(A) The director shall make separate findings
of:
(i) The basic hourly rate; and
(ii) The rate of contribution or cost of fringe
benefits paid by the employer when the payment of the fringe benefits by the
employer constitutes a prevailing practice. The cost of fringe benefits shall
be reflected in the wage rate scheduled as an hourly rate; and
(B) The rates of wages which the director
shall regard as prevailing in each corresponding classification of laborers and
mechanics shall be the rate of wages paid to the greatest number of those
employed in the State, the modal rate, in the corresponding classes of laborers
or mechanics on projects that are similar to the contract work;
(2) [Repeal and reenactment on June 30, 2030.
L 2018, c 39, §4.] Except for the project prevailing wages established by
subsections (h) and (i), the prevailing wages shall be not less than the wages
payable under federal law to corresponding classes of laborers and mechanics
employed on public works projects in the State that are prosecuted under
contract or agreement with the government of the United States; and
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of the original
contract, the prevailing wages shall be periodically adjusted during the
performance of the contract in an amount equal to the change in the prevailing
wage as periodically determined by the director.
(c) No laborer or mechanic employed on the job
site of any public work of the State or any political subdivision thereof shall
be permitted or required to work on Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday of the
State or in excess of eight hours on any other day unless the laborer or
mechanic receives overtime compensation for all hours worked on Saturday,
Sunday, and a legal holiday of the State or in excess of eight hours on any
other day. The rate for overtime compensation and any other premium rates of
pay shall be those rates specified in an applicable collective bargaining
agreement when the basic hourly rate is established by a collective bargaining
agreement.
For purposes of determining overtime
compensation under this subsection, the basic hourly rate of any laborer or
mechanic shall not be less than the basic hourly rate determined by the
director to be the prevailing basic hourly rate for corresponding classes of
laborers and mechanics on projects of similar character in the State.
(d) The contractor or the contractor's
subcontractor shall pay all mechanics and laborers employed on the job site,
unconditionally and not less often than once a week, and without deduction or
rebate on any account, except as allowed by law, the full amounts of their
wages including overtime, accrued to not more than five working days prior to
the time of payment, at wage rates not less than those deemed to be prevailing,
regardless of any contractual relationship which may be alleged to exist
between the contractor or subcontractor and the laborers and mechanics. The
rates of wages to be paid shall be posted by the contractor in a prominent and
easily accessible place at the job site, and a copy of the rates of wages
required to be posted shall be given to each laborer and mechanic employed
under the contract by the contractor at the time each laborer and mechanic is
employed, except that where there is a collective bargaining agreement the
contractor does not have to provide the contractor's employees the wage rate
schedules.
(e) The governmental contracting agency may
withhold from the contractor so much of the accrued payments as the
governmental contracting agency may consider necessary to pay to the laborers
and mechanics employed by the contractor or any subcontractor on the job site
the difference between the prevailing wages and the wages received and not
refunded by the laborers and mechanics.
(f) Every contract in excess of $2,000 for
construction of a public work project and the specifications for such contract
shall include provisions that set forth the requirements of subsections (a) to
(e); provided that failure by the contracting agency to include those
provisions in the contract or specifications shall not be a defense of the
contractor or subcontractor for noncompliance with the requirements of this
chapter.
(g) [Repeal and reenactment on June 30, 2030.
L 2018, c 39, §4.] For any public work project that is subject to this
chapter but not directly caused by a governmental contracting agency, the
director shall be responsible for enforcement of this chapter, including the
collection and maintenance of certified copies of all payrolls that are subject
to this chapter.
(h) When:
(1) The department of budget and finance enters a
project agreement with a project party, as those terms are defined in chapter
39A, to finance or refinance a project with the proceeds of special purpose
revenue bonds;
(2) The project party has entered into a collective
bargaining agreement with a bona fide labor union governing the project party's
workforce; and
(3) The collective bargaining agreement has been
properly submitted to the director under section 104-34,
the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and
associated provisions shall be deemed the prevailing wages and terms serving as
the basis of compliance with this chapter for work on the project by the
project party's workforce; provided that this subsection does not affect the
director's enforcement powers contained in subsection (g).
(i)
[Repealed June 30, 2030. L
2018, c 39, §4.] The terms of section 201H-36(a)(5) prevailing wages shall
be deemed the prevailing wages serving as the basis of compliance with this
chapter for work on the project when:
Source: Hawaii State Legislature (capitol.hawaii.gov), via Internet Archive capturesURL: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol02_Ch0046-0115/HRS0104/HRS_0104-0002.htmFetched: 11/10/2026