Opinion ID: 736908
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Public Works Contract

Text: 8 In February 1992, Burgio entered into a public works construction contract with the Williamsville Central School District in the amount of $8,130,273 to construct a new middle school. The following month, Burgio subcontracted with another company (the subcontractor) to perform the masonry on the project, at a cost of $2,398,000. Masonry work commenced shortly thereafter and continued through mid-December 1992, when the subcontractor informed Burgio that certain union-related benefits had not been paid. Burgio was subsequently served with a notice of levy by the Internal Revenue Service listing the subcontractor and another company. In early January 1993, Burgio discovered that the subcontractor had subcontracted its portion of the contract to that other company (the sub-subcontractor), which had entered into collective bargaining agreements with the unions representing bricklayers, laborers and operating engineers working on the project. Those collective bargaining agreements contemplated contributions to benefit plans covered by ERISA. These contributions are part of the wage supplements taken into account by the State in administering the prevailing wage law. Burgio never entered into any kind of agreement with the sub-subcontractor, nor did it employ any of the workers hired under the sub-subcontract. 9 In January 1993, the subcontractor stopped work on the project. Burgio was forced to find another subcontractor to complete the masonry work. That same month, the sub-subcontractor filed a Chapter 11 petition in bankruptcy, which has since been dismissed.