Wage Enforcement

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WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. McCann’s Rooter Sewer & Drain Cleaning Service, Inc.

Case No.: 2017AP906

Officials: Lundsten, P.J., Sherman and Kloppenburg, JJ.

Focus: Wage Enforcement

The State brought this prevailing wage enforcement action against McCann’s Rooter Sewer & Drain Cleaning Service, Inc., seeking unpaid wages owed to sixteen McCann’s employees for work performed on nine municipal and state sewer projects that had been determined to be prevailing wage projects. The circuit court granted the State’s motion for summary judgment and awarded the State $484,211.80 for the unpaid wages owed to the employees. McCann’s appeals, arguing that: (1) the circuit court erred in concluding that McCann’s was required to exhaust its remedies in order to challenge whether the prevailing wage determinations encompass the work performed by its employees on the projects; and (2) certain of the unpaid wage claims were untimely. McCann’s makes three separate arguments in challenging the court’s ruling on exhaustion of remedies and two separate arguments in challenging the court’s ruling on timeliness. As explained below, we conclude that McCann’s has forfeited all but one of its arguments raised on appeal, and that the argument not forfeited has no merit. Accordingly, we affirm.

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.