By: Connie Fort
In our first installment of "Connie's History Corner", we covered the Davis-Bacon Act. This law, and the subsequent related laws we will be discussing, have continued the work started by James Davis and Robert Bacon. Among these subsequent reforms were two laws: the “Copeland Anti-Kickback Act of 1938” and the “Anti-Kickback Enforcement Act of 1986”. The former followed almost directly on the heels of Davis-Bacon. It was introduced by Senator Royal S. Copeland from Michigan, and addressed the practice of employers receiving kickbacks from workers. The latter was introduced by Carl Levin, a long-serving Senator who was also from Michigan, and made the earlier Copeland Act more enforceable.
A “kickback” involves an employer taking part of the money rightly owed to a worker by means of “... force, intimidation, or threat of procuring dismissal from employment” (source: US Dept. of Labor website). At a time when millions of Americans found themselves surprise camping and eating dirt and snow soup, every dollar counted. The Copeland Act went a long way towards addressing this grievous wrong. Now, a boss taking part of a worker's pay was punishable by a fine, 5 years in prison, or both. The Act also enshrined into law parts of Herbert Hoover’s Executive Order No. 5778, requiring weekly certified payroll submission. So if you’re having to enter Certified Payroll, or are re-entering it after it’s been rejected: blame Herbert Hoover, everyone does it already anyways. That same year Copeland was instrumental in passing the “Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938”. So, if you haven’t had to make sure your gallon of milk wasn’t just white paint, or that the drug you’re taking for your headache isn’t just olive-oil and heroin, thank Royal S. Copeland.
Now you may be asking, “what on EARTH does ANY OF THIS have to do with wage deductions?” The answer is more than you think, but less than I can truthfully admit to. Here’s the gist: a deduction for “other” or “uniform” is an easy way to disguise a kickback as an honest and agreed upon wage deduction. Asking for backup documentation for deductions that appear to be voluntary helps ensure that those deductions are truly voluntary, and not wage theft wearing sunglasses and a banana nose. Some prime contractors require backup documentation for involuntary deductions like a court-ordered garnishment, but that is not always the case. As much as it is intended to protect the worker, it’s in the interest of employers to comply as well. Having signed documentation showing that those deductions for “safety gear” are actually for what they state could save your Bacon.
FASCINATING FACT: Senator Carl Levin had a brief acting part in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”. Gary Oldman starred in that movie as well, and was in Oliver Stone’s “JFK” with, you guessed it, KEVIN BACON. That’s only two degrees of Kevin Bacon. BUT. If you dig a little, you’ll find Levin met George HW Bush, who was VP under Ronald Reagan, who was friends with Henry Fonda, who once lived with David Bacon, brother of Robert L. Bacon. That’s only FIVE DEGREES OF ROBERT L. BACON BABYYY!
References:
(1) United States Department of Labor and Industries website (via the wayback machine): https://web.archive.org/web/20121017001900/http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-copeland.htm
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