Teamsters Joint Council No. 10 v. Director of the Department of Labor & Workforce Development

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the prevailing wage law did not require payment of prevailing wages for the off-site, over-the-road driving time of truck drivers hauling bituminous concrete to public construction projects. Applying an arbitrary-or-capricious standard and deferring to the agency’s reasonable statutory interpretation, the court vacated the Superior Court judgment and upheld the deputy director’s decision rescinding the prior policy.

Holdings

1. Because G. L. c. 149, § 27A, provided no appeal from the director's or designee's decision, review in the nature of certiorari was appropriate, and the plaintiffs had to show that the decision was arbitrary or capricious or constituted a substantial error of law affecting material rights.
2. The deputy director's interpretation of the prevailing wage statute was entitled to substantial deference because the Legislature delegated implementation and decision-making authority to the department.
3. The prevailing wage law did not cover the over-the-road time of drivers hauling bituminous concrete to public construction projects, and the deputy director's contrary-to-the-1993-policy decision was not arbitrary or capricious.
4. The deputy director did not act arbitrarily or capriciously by changing the 1993 policy after a public hearing and concluding that the prior policy had expanded the commissioner's authority beyond the statute's meaning.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the deputy director's interpretation that the prevailing wage law did not cover off-site road time for drivers hauling bituminous concrete was arbitrary or capricious.
2. Whether Construction Industries of Massachusetts v. Commissioner of Labor & Industries required the agency to include road time within prevailing wage coverage.
3. What standard of judicial review applied to the deputy director's decision under G. L. c. 149, § 27A, when the statute made the agency decision final.

Disposition

vacated