Contractors or subcontractors on prevailing wage projects required to pay an employee’s wages and benefits on behalf of a subcontractor who failed to do so would, under Senate Bill 179, be able to sue the subcontractor or lower-tier subcontractor that failed to pay the employee's wages and benefits and the individual who submitted a false certified payroll on behalf of the subcontractor or lower-tier subcontractor. Additionally, the bill, which has been approved by the Labor and Public Employees Committee, specifies that if any of the defendants do not have sufficient funds to pay an equal share of the award, the other defendants must make up the difference.
Local boards of education in Connecticut are allowed to take property by eminent domain for school projects, according to a report from the Office of Legislative Research. The board must seek town approval and follow the eminent domain procedures set out for redevelopment projects: the board must offer a property owner compensation for property taken by eminent domain, the owner can ask a court to review the board's offer of compensation, and the court can order a different amount. Several boards in Connecticut reported conducting a school project between 2007 and 2011 that required the board to acquire property using its eminent domain authority. The report was updated to determine whether boards took residential property by eminent domain; whether the property owners contested a board's offer of compensation in court; and, for each court case, whether the court awarded different compensation than the board offered.
The new Director of the Connecticut Department of Labor Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Kenneth Tucker, is featured in the February edition of CONN-OSHA Quarterly. Tucker, who has been with DOL since 1986, had been serving as the Division’s acting director for the past three years.
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