Dillingham Construction N.A. v. County of Sonoma

I. BACKGROUND

This case has raised the issue of whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) or the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) preempts the application of a state prevailing wage law that requires the payment of prevailing wages to employees in apprenticeship programs that have not received state approval but allows the payment of lower apprenticeship wages to employees participating in state approved apprenticeship programs. The district court held that neither ERISA nor the NLRA preempts the apprentice prevailing wage law. See Dillingham Constr. N.A., Inc. v. County of Sonoma, 778 F.Supp. 1522 (N.D.Cal.1991). This court reversed the district court, held that ERISA preempted the apprenticeship prevailing wage law, and declined to address the issue of whether the NLRA preempts the apprentice prevailing wage law. See Dillingham Constr. N.A., Inc. v. County of Sonoma, 57 F.3d 712 (9th Cir.1995). The United States Supreme Court reversed this court’s decision, held that *1037 ERISA did not preempt the apprentice prevailing wage law, and remanded this case to this court for further proceedings. See California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement v.…