Any officer or person designated as inspector of the work to be performed under any contract of the character specified in section 329 of this title, or to aid in the enforcement or fulfillment thereof shall, upon observation or investigation, forthwith report to the proper officer of the United States, of any territory or possession, or of the District of Columbia, all violations of the provisions of this subchapter occurring in the performance of such work, together with the name of each laborer or mechanic who was required or permitted to work in violation of such provisions and the day or days of such violation. The amount of unpaid wages and liquidated damages owing under the provisions of this subchapter shall be administratively determined and the officer or person whose duty it is to approve the payment of moneys by the United States, the territory, or the District of Columbia in connection with the performance of the contract work shall direct the amount of such liquidated damages to be withheld for the use and benefit of the United States, said territory, or said District, and shall direct the amount of such unpaid wages to be withheld for the use and benefit of the laborers and mechanics who were not compensated as required under the provisions of this subchapter. The Comptroller General of the United States is authorized and directed to pay directly to such laborers and mechanics, from the sums withheld on account of underpayments of wages, the respective amounts administratively determined to be due, if the funds withheld are adequate, and, if not, an equitable proportion of such amounts.
If the accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contracts, as aforesaid, are insufficient to reimburse all the laborers and mechanics with respect to whom there has been a failure to pay the wages required pursuant to this subchapter, such laborers and mechanics shall, in the case of a department or agency of the Federal Government, have the rights of action and/or of intervention against the contractor and his sureties conferred by law upon persons furnishing labor or materials, and in such proceedings it shall be no defense that such laborers and mechanics accepted or agreed to accept less than the required rate of wages or voluntarily made refunds.
Any contractor or subcontractor aggrieved by the withholding of a sum as liquidated damages as provided in this subchapter shall have the right, within sixty days thereafter, to appeal to the head of the agency of the United States or of the territory for which the contract work is done or by which financial assistance for the work is provided, or to the Mayor of the District of Columbia in the case of liquidated damages withheld for the use and benefit of said District. Such agency head or Mayor, as the case may be, shall have authority to review the administrative determination of liquidated damages and to issue a final order affirming such determination; or, if it is found that the sum determined is incorrect or that the contractor or subcontractor violated the provisions of this subchapter inadvertently notwithstanding the exercise of due care on his part and that of his agents, recommendations may be made to the Secretary that an appropriate adjustment in liquidated damages be made, or that the contractor or subcontractor be relieved of liability for such liquidated damages. The Secretary shall review all pertinent facts in the matter and may conduct such investigations as he deems necessary, so as to affirm or reject the recommendation. The decision of the Secretary shall be final. In all such cases in which a contractor or subcontractor may be aggrieved by a final order for the withholding of liquidated damages as hereinbefore provided, such contractor or subcontractor may, within sixty days after such final order, file a claim in the United States Court of Federal Claims: Provided, however, That final orders of the agency head, the Mayor of the District of Columbia or the Secretary, as the case may be, shall be conclusive with respect to findings of fact if such findings are supported by substantial evidence.
Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1267) shall be applicable with respect to the provisions of this subchapter, and section 276c of this title, shall be applicable with respect to those contractors and subcontractors referred to therein who are engaged in the performance of contracts subject to the provisions of this subchapter.
(Pub. L. 87–581, title I, §104, Aug. 13, 1962, 76 Stat. 358; 1967 Reorg. Plan No. 3, §401, eff. Nov. 3, 1967, 32 F.R. 11669, 81 Stat. 951; Pub. L. 93–198, title IV, §421, Dec. 24, 1973, 87 Stat. 789; Pub. L. 97–164, title I, §160(a)(13), Apr. 2, 1982, 96 Stat. 48; Pub. L. 102–572, title IX, §902(b)(1), Oct. 29, 1992, 106 Stat. 4516.)
Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950, referred to in subsec. (d), is Reorg. Plan No. 14 of 1950, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3176, 64 Stat. 1267, which is set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
1992—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102–572 substituted “United States Court of Federal Claims” for “United States Claims Court”.
1982—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 97–164 substituted “United States Claims Court” for “Court of Claims”.
Amendment by Pub. L. 102–572 effective Oct. 29, 1992, see section 911 of Pub. L. 102–572, set out as a note under section 171 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Amendment by Pub. L. 97–164 effective Oct. 1, 1982, see section 402 of Pub. L. 97–164, set out as a note under section 171 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Except as otherwise provided in Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1967, functions of Board of Commissioners of District of Columbia transferred to Commissioner of District of Columbia by section 401 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1967. Office of Commissioner of District of Columbia, as established by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1967, abolished as of noon Jan. 2, 1975, by Pub. L. 93–198, title VII, §711, Dec. 24, 1973, 87 Stat. 818, and replaced by office of Mayor of District of Columbia by section 421 of Pub. L. 93–198. Accordingly, “Mayor” substituted in subsec. (c) for “commissioners”.
This section is referred to in sections 328, 333 of this title; title 28 section 1499.