Opinion ID: 327195
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: request for relief

Text: 20 The Union seeks money damages from the Boeing Company for the difference in wages and benefits between the amount Union members earned between April 1, 1971 and February 1, 1972 and the amount the Union members would have earned had the January 3, 1972 wage determination been in effect during the ten months period. The Union says it seeks the damages as a vindication of the Service Contract Act and not in an attempt to enforce the contract with retroactive application of the wage determination. It is the Union's view that the KSC support services contract of November 23, 1970 awarded to Boeing is void and must be set aside and resolicited by NASA because the contract lacked the wage determination provision. The Union ascribes the alleged wrongful omission of the wage determination to the Secretary of Labor. 21 The Union analogizes its request for relief to the statutory remedy provided in Section 3(a) of the Act. 6 Under Section 3(a) the party responsible for the violation of a wage determination is liable for the amount of underpayment. In this case, however, there simply was no wage determination for the Boeing Company to violate, and the lack of such a wage determination should not be ascribed to Boeing. This is particularly true where as here the Union ascribes the omission of the wage determination to the Secretary. The Union argues, however, that no lesser relief than provided in Section 3(a) is appropriate in a case where, in the Union's view, a wage determination is wrongfully omitted from a service contract, since the damage done to the Union's members is the same. While the injury to the Union members may be the same as it would be where a wage determination is violated, the causation is not. The lack of a wage determination provision in the contract is not attributable to any action by Boeing. It is attributable only to the Secretary of Labor. 22 The enforcement of Section 3(a) is by statute the province either of the head of the contracting federal agency or the Secretary of Labor. 7 When the Secretary issued the wage determination effective February 1, 1972, Boeing complied. Boeing has not violated that wage determination or any other which is applicable here. 23 A service contract can be canceled by the contracting agency under 41 U.S.C. § 352(c) when a violation of a contract stipulation is found. Since there is no wage determination present in the Boeing-NASA contract, no violation of a wage determination can occur and NASA has no grounds upon which to cancel the contract. 24 The Union further argues that as between the innocent employees who received reduced wages and the Boeing Company that Boeing should stand the loss because Boeing is not entitled to rely upon a contract illegally made. Yet it is the Secretary of Labor who allegedly acted wrongfully in omitting the wage determination. Boeing was entitled to bid on the specifications as it found them. Boeing based its bid so far as labor costs were concerned on the wage rates and fringe benefits contained in its collective bargaining agreement with the Union. Within the context of the Service Contract Act of 1965, this was a legal, not an illegal agreement. 25 The resulting contract is valid as between Boeing and the United States of America despite the lack of a wage determination provision. The damage to Union members, according to the Union's argument, comes by the alleged failure of the Secretary of Labor to do what they claim he is required to do under the Act, and not by any act of the Boeing Company. Whether the Boeing-Union national agreement was applicable to Boeing's performance of support services work at KSC and whether Boeing properly or improperly based its bid on that agreement is not before the court on this appeal. 8 Moreover, such inquiry does not bear on the validity of the bid and contract under the Service Contract Act. 26 The issue here is whether the Service Contract Act provides any means by which the Union can recover damages from Boeing. The court finds nothing within the Act that would support what the Union has described as vindication. While the Act does provide for enforcement of wage determinations by the Government against offending employers, including the recovery of amounts of underpayment and contract cancellation, the Act does not provide any remedy against employers for the alleged omissions of the Secretary of Labor. 27 The remainder of the Union's arguments attack the decision of the Secretary of Labor not to issue a wage determination. 9 Such arguments might well be more soundly addressed to the Court of Claims. We express no opinion as to the validity of the Union's argument in that context, but simply note that the Union demands damages under the Service Contract Act from the Boeing Company. The demand cannot succeed not only because the Act does not provide such a remedy but also because the Boeing Company has not violated the Act. 28 The judgment of the district court must be affirmed.