Public Law 87–581

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the wages

Forty-hour week provision.

of every laborer and mechanic employed by any contractor or sub-contractor in his performance of work on any contract of the character specified in section 103 shall be computed on the basis of a standard workday of eight hours and a standard workweek of forty hours, and work in excess of such standard workday or workweek shall lie permitted subject to the provisions of this section. For each workweek in which any such laborer or mechanic is so employed, such wages shall include compensation, at a rate not less than one and one-half times the basic rate of pay, for all hours worked in excess of eight hours in any calendar day or in excess of forty hours in the workweek, as the case may be.

The following provisions shall be a condition of every contract of the character specified in section 103 and of any obligation of the United States, any territory, or the District of Columbia in connection therewith:

The provisions of this Act shall apply, except as otherwise provided, to any contract which may require or involve the employment of laborers or mechanics upon a public work of the United States, of any territory, or of the District of Columbia, and to any other contract which may require or involve the employment of laborers or mechanics if such contract is one (1) to which the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, any territory, or the District of Columbia is a party, or. (21 which is made for or on behalf of the United States, any agency or instrumentality thereof, any territory, or the District of Columbia, or (3) which is a contract for work financed in whole or in part by loans or grants from, or loans insured or guaranteed by, the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof under any statute of the United States providing wage standards for such work: Provided, That the provisions of section 102, shall not apply to work where the assistance from the United States or any agency or instrumentality as set forth above is only in that nature of a loan guarantee, or insurance. Except as otherwise expressly provided, the provisions of the Act shall apply to all laborers and mechanics, including watchmen and guards, employed by any contractor or subcontractor in the performance of any part of the work contemplated by any such contract, and for purposes of this Act, laborers and mechanics shall include workmen performing services in connection with dredging or rock excavation in any river or harbor of the United States or or any territory or of the District of Columbia, but shall not include any employee employed as a seaman.

This Act shall not apply to contracts for transportation by land, air, or water, or for the transmission of intelligence, or for the purchase of supplies or materials or articles ordinarily available in the open market. This Act shall not apply with respect to any work required to be done in accordance with the provisions of the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (49 Stat., 2036; 41 U.S.C. 35–45).

Any officer or person designated as inspector of the work to be performed under any contract of the character specified in section 103, or to aid in the enforcement or fulfillment thereof shall, upon observation or investigation, forthwith report to the proper officer or the United States, of any territory or possession, or or the District of Columbia, all violations of the provisions of this Act occurring in the performance of such work, together with the name of each laborer or mechanic who was required or permitted to work in violation of such provisions and the day or days of such violation. The amount of unpaid wages and liquidated damages owing under the provisions of this Act shall be administratively determined and the officer or person whose duty it is to approve the payment of moneys by the United States, the territory, or the District of Columbia in connection with the performance of the contract work shall direct the amount of such liquidated damages to be withheld for the use and benefit of the United States, said territory, or said District, and shall direct the amount of such unpaid wages to be withheld for the use and benefit of the laborers and mechanics who were not compensated as required under the provisions of this Act. The Comptroller General of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to pay directly to such laborers and mechanics, from the sums withheld on account of underpayments of wages, the respective amounts administratively determined to be due, if the funds withheld are adequate, and, if not, an equitable proportion of such amounts.

If the accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contracts, as aforesaid, are insufficient to reimburse all the laborers and mechanics with respect to whom there has been a failure to pay the wages required pursuant to this Act, such laborers and mechanics shall, in the case of a department or agency of the Federal Government, have the rights of action and/or of intervention against the contractor and his sureties conferred by law upon persons furnishing labor or materials, and in such proceedings it shall be no defense that such laborers and mechanics accepted or agreed to accept less than the required rate of wages or voluntarily made refunds.

Any contractor or subcontractor aggrieved by the withholding

Right to appeal.

of a sum as liquidated damages as provided in this Act shall have the right, within sixty days thereafter, to appeal to the head of the agency of the United States or of the territory for which the contract work is done or by which financial assistance for the work is provided, or to the Commissioners of the District of Columbia in the case of liquidated damages withheld for the use and benefit of said District. Such agency head or Commissioners, as the case may be, shall have authority to review the administrative determination of liquidated damages and to issue a final order affirming such determination; or, if it is found that the sum determined is incorrect or that the contractor or subcontractor violated the provisions of this Act inadvertently notwithstanding the exercise oi due care on his part and that of his agents, recommendations may be made to the Secretary that an appropriate adjustment in liquidated damages be made, or that the contractor or subcontractor be relieved of liability for such liquidated damages. The Secretary shall review all pertinent facts in the matter and may conduct such investigations as he deems necessary, so as to affirm or reject the recommendation. The decision of the Secretary shall be final. In all such cases in which a contractor or sub-contractor may be aggrieved by a final order for the withholding of liquidated damages as hereinbefore provided, such contractor or sub-contractor may, within sixty days after such final order, file a claim in the Court of Claims: Provided, however, That final orders of the agency head, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia or the Secretary, as the case may lie, shall be conclusive with respect to findings of fact if such findings are supported by substantial evidence.

Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3175; 64 Stat. 1267) shall be applicable with respect to the provisions of this Act, and section 2 of the Act of June 13, 1934, as amended (48 Stat. 948, 54 Stat. 1236, 63 Stat. 108; 40 U.S.C. 276c), shall be applicable

72 stat. 967.

with respect to those contractors and subcontractors referred to therein who are engaged in the performance of contracts subject to the provisions of this Act.

Section 1499 of title 28, United States Code, is hereby amended to read as follows:

Ҥ 1499. Liquidated damages withheld from contractors under Contract Work Hours Standards Act

“The Court of Claims shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim for liquidated damages withheld from a contractor or subcontractor under section 104 of the Contract Work Hours

Ante, p. 358.

Standards Act.”

#

The Court of Claims shall continue to have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim for a penalty withheld from a contractor or subcontractor under section 324 of title 40, United States

37 stat. 137; 62 stat. 989.

Code, in connection with any contract subject to said section existing on the effective date of this Act, or thereafter entered into pursuant to invitations for bids that are outstanding at the time of the enactment of this Act.