Previously: SB 718: Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Uh, has anyone noticed a groundswell of people volunteering to work for free on public works projects?
A bill, introduced yesterday in the House by Representative Charlie Davis (r):
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 1594
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLYINTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES DAVIS (Sponsor), LANT, REHDER, MOON, LICHTENEGGER, BERRY, LYNCH, LOVE AND KELLEY (127) (Co-sponsors).
5421H.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 290.230, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to volunteer labor on public works projects.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 290.230, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 290.230, to read as follows:
290.230. 1. Not less than the prevailing hourly rate of wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the work is performed, and not less than the prevailing hourly rate of wages for legal holiday and overtime work, shall be paid to all workmen employed by or on behalf of any public body engaged in the construction of public works, exclusive of maintenance work. Only such workmen as are directly employed by contractors or subcontractors in actual construction work on the site of the building or construction job shall be deemed to be employed upon public works. Any such workman who agrees in writing to volunteer his or her labor without pay shall not be deemed to be employed upon public works, and shall not be entitled to the prevailing hourly rate of wages.
2. When the hauling of materials or equipment includes some phase of construction other than the mere transportation to the site of the construction, workmen engaged in this dual capacity shall be deemed employed directly on public works.
[emphasis in original]
So, what happens when a “volunteer” who is “not deemed to be employed upon public works” is injured working on a public works site? Right.
When a volunteer who is not deemed to be employed is working on a public works site and then goes on strike for better working conditions or over safety issues, do they make a sound? Just asking.