Are local government officials subject to criminal liability under §946.15, Stats., for violating prevailing wage laws?
It is unlikely that a public entity would be criminally liable for violating the prevailing wage law. The more likely scenario is that the public entity would have to make up the difference in wages (assuming there is a difference in wages) to the prime contractor or developer/contractor for failing to notify it of the prevailing wage requirement. Another scenario is that the public entity would be ordered to obtain a prevailing wage rate determination for a project or if that fails that the department would issue a prevailing wage rate determination for the project to the local governmental unit.
