Violante

Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, Sandra Rae Benson, Pasadena, Patricia M. Gates and Roberta D. Perkins, Oakland, for Northern California Electrical Construction Industry Labor-Management Cooperative Trust and Work Preservation Fund, a non-profit labor/management cooperative venture and Northern California Basic Crafts Alliance on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant Margarito Violante.

We hold that a subcontractor's employee on a public works project cannot sue the prime or general contractor on theories of statutory or contractual liability for the nonpayment of prevailing wages by the subcontractor, the employee's direct employer. Although both sides on this issue have advanced compelling public policy arguments in favor of their respective positions, we deem those more appropriate for legislative rather than judicial consideration. ( California Teachers Assn. v. Governing Bd. of Rialto Unified School Dist. (1997) 14 Cal.4th 627, 632 , 59 Cal.Rptr.2d 671 , 927 P.2d 1175 ; Crusader Insurance Co. v. Scottsdale Insurance Co. (1997) 54 Cal.App.4th 121, 134 , 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 620 .) Our review of the statutory scheme governing prevailing wages finds no private right of action for…