Prevailing Wage

According to the Prevailing Wage Act, in June of each year, all public bodies are required to investigate and ascertain the prevailing rate of wages within their jurisdiction and take action to publicly post those determinations. In the event a public body does not investigate and ascertain the prevailing wages, the prevailing rate will be determined by the Department of Labor as the rate for the county in which the public body is located.

Prior to the Act being amended, the public body was required to publish either its determination of the prevailing wages or the Department of Labor’s determination of the prevailing wages in a newspaper of general circulation within its jurisdiction within thirty days of the rates being determined. However, a recent amendment to the law provides that public bodies that rely on the prevailing rate determined by the Department of Labor may now satisfy the newspaper publication requirement by posting a notice of the determination on its website with a link to the prevailing wage schedule for the county.

Oak Lawn Community High School District 229 relies on the prevailing wages that the Department of Labor determines for Cook County. This amendment to the law means that Oak Lawn Community High School District 229 no longer has to go through the steps of publishing the prevailing rates in the local newspaper. Instead, the district simply posts a notice to its website with a link to the Department of Labor’s published prevailing wages for Cook County. The Department of Labor’s website with links for all applicable counties can be found here.