Does ERISA preempt state laws?
In the Dillingham case, the Supreme Court will examine whether ERISA preempts state prevailing wage laws and apprenticeship rules. The US Supreme Court is about to add yet another round to the long debate about whether ERISA takes precedence over state laws. At issue are state-imposed apprenticeship standards and prevailing wage laws, which set the dollar value of the cash wages and employee benefits-including pensions-that contractors must pay their employees who work on public works projects. Most states use the prevailing rate of pay in the geographic area of the project as their benchmark in setting these levels-usually, the prevailing union rate. Apprenticeship programs are at issue too because most contractors pay their apprentices less than other, more experienced workers. But to qualify to pay these lower wages on public works projects, many states require that the employers’ workers be enrolled in apprenticeship programs that meet state regulations-usually intended to favor un
