Division of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Ericsson Information Systems, Inc.

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, Department of Industrial Relations, State of California (hereafter DLSE or department) appeals from a summary judgment in favor of contractor Ericsson Information Systems, Inc., its bonding company Federal Insurance Company, and subcontractor Global Telecon, Ltd. (hereafter sometimes referred to collectively as Ericsson or the contractor), after the department sued to enforce payment of prevailing wages and to impose a penalty under Labor Code section 1770 et seq., for a public works project completed by the contractor for the University of California of San Diego (hereafter UCSD or the university). We hold the university is subject to the public works prevailing wage laws designed to protect private sector employees on public works which do not involve the internal affairs of the university. Further, we hold the hindsight determination after completion of the project that no classification had been published by the department to precisely cover the employees on the project, did not, as a matter of law for purposes of summary judgment, excuse the contractor’s expressly assumed obligation to pay the workers prevailing wages. The…