City v. State, Dept. of Labor and Industries

**What Happened** The City of Spokane and Wheelabrator Spokane, Inc. challenged a decision requiring them to pay prevailing wages to workers doing maintenance at a city-owned waste-to-energy facility. Even though Wheelabrator was a private company operating the facility, the state's Department of Labor and Industries said the workers had to be paid prevailing wages (higher wages set by the government for public projects). The city and company disagreed, arguing that this maintenance work should be exempt from prevailing wage rules. **What the Court Decided** The Washington Court of Appeals sided with the Department of Labor and Industries. The court affirmed that prevailing wage requirements do apply to this maintenance work, even though a private contractor was doing the work. The court rejected all arguments from the city and Wheelabrator that the work should be exempt. **Why This Matters for Workers** This ruling protects workers by ensuring they receive higher prevailing wages when working on publicly-owned facilities, even when their actual employer is a private company. It clarifies that the government can't avoid paying prevailing wages simply by hiring private contractors to maintain public facilities.