Facts:  Respondent fill material suppliers Silverstreak et al. sought judicial review of petitioner Washington Department of Labor and Industries (Department) decision that their end-up truck drivers were entitled to prevailing wages under Wash. Rev. Code §39.12.020. The Superior Court for King County entered a judgment upholding the administrative action, and Silverstreak et al subsequently appealed. The Washington Court of Appeals reversed the trial court, granted judgment in favor of Silverstreak et al, and remanded the case for further proceedings, holding that the drivers did not qualify to be paid the statutory prevailing wages because their activities at the work site did not involve incorporating the delivered material into the Sea-Tac Third Runway Embankment Project in a fashion similar to spreading, leveling, or rolling. The Supreme Court of Washington granted the Department’s petition for review.

Questions:  Is the group of workers who drove the end-dump trucks for the fill material suppliers on the first phase of the construction project entitled to be paid prevailing wages under Wash. Rev. Code §39.12.020?

Conclusion:  Chief Justice Gerry Alexander’s opinion for the Court held that the Court of Appeals erred in applying the canon of ejusdem generis to limit the scope of Prevailing Wage Act’s coverage to only those activities similar to spreading, leveling, or rolling. Consequently, the Court upheld the Department’s broader construction of Wash. Rev. Code §38.12.020, concluding that the end-dump truck drivers did participate in the incorporation of fill material into the Sea-Tac Third Runway Embankment Project. However, the Court estopped the Department’s enforcement of its order because the Department’s position on the applicability of the Prevailing Wage Act in this case is inconsistent with the position in its 1992 policy memorandum and with subsequent representation it made to Silverstreak Inc and the other fill material suppliers. Thus, though on different grounds, the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals determination that the end-dump truck drivers employed by the fill material suppliers were not entitled to prevailing wages.

Docket No. 76695-9 (from Court of Appeals Division I Case No. 52810-6)

Petitioner: Department of Labor and Industries

(Counsel: Robert M. McKenna, Anastasia R. Sandstrom, and Amanda J. Goss)

Respondent: Silverstreak, Inc.

(Counsel: John P. Ahers and Anne E. Sargent)

Argument: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 10:00am

[Source: TVW, http://tvw.org]

Decided: Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Prevailing Party: Silverstreak, Inc. (Respondent)

Vote: 5-4

Opinion: 159 Wn.2d 868 (2007)

Court: Alexander3 Court (2005-2007)

Alexander

Johnson

Madsen

Sanders

Bridge

Chambers

Owens

Fairhurst

Johnson