Written By Larry Beebe
Bond Beebe
P: 301.272.6025 E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In an article entitled “Fiduciary Duties Created by Project Labor Agreements” in the International Foundation of Benefit Plans’ August 2011 Benefits Magazine, Paul Moorhead of Laquer, Urban, Clifford & Hodge, LLP provides useful guidance for Trustees whose participants work under a project labor agreement.  On the specific nuances of payroll auditing issues involved when nonunion contractors are bound to a Collective Bargaining Agreement, Moorhead states:

The courts have held that trustees may rely on certified payroll records (CPRs) to determine the amount of fringe benefit contributions owed by a contractor.  In Trs. Of the S. Cal. IBEW-NECA Pension Plan v. Tri Signal Integration, trustees audited three years’ worth of the contractors CPRs on construction projects covered by the Los Angeles United School District’s Protection Stabilization Agreement.  The audit resulted in a claim for over $230,000 in unpaid contributions.  The contractor disputed the audit by claiming that the CPRs inaccurately classified the work performed by the employees.  The court rejected this claim, ruling that a contractor cannot escape the admissions made in contemporaneously prepared records by simply denying, after the fact, the accuracy of the CPRs.

To read the full article, click here.

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