Safeair Contrs., Inc. v. Alabasi Constr., Inc.

**What Happened** This case involved a dispute over wage rates on a public construction project. Alabasi Construction was working on a county project where the contract documents incorrectly specified state prevailing wage rates instead of the required federal rates under the Davis-Bacon Act. When this error was discovered, the county issued a change order to fix the contract and require the correct (higher) federal wage rates. However, the change order didn't clearly state whether workers should receive the higher wages retroactively from the project's start date or only going forward. **What the Court Decided** The Ohio Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's summary judgment in favor of the county. The court found that the change order was unclear about whether the wage correction applied retroactively, making the situation too ambiguous to decide without a full trial. **Why This Matters for Workers** This ruling highlights the importance of clear language in prevailing wage corrections. When public construction projects have wage rate errors, any fixes must clearly specify whether workers get back pay for periods when they were underpaid. The ambiguous change order here prevented workers from getting a clear answer about retroactive wages, demonstrating why precise contract language matters for worker compensation.