§4.174. Meeting requirements for holiday fringe benefits. — Inbound Citations

(b) Under this provision, the fringe benefits, if any, which the contractor or subcontractor is required to furnish the service employees engaged in the performance of the contract are specified in the contract documents (see § 4.6). How the contractor may satisfy this obligation is dealt with in §§ 4.170 through 4.177 of this part. A change in the fringe benefits required by the contract provision will not result from the mere fact that other or additional fringe benefits are determined to be prevailing for such employees in the locality at a time subsequent to the award but before completion of the contract. Such fringe benefit determinations are effective for contracts not yet awarded (see § 4.5(a)), or in the event that changes in an existing contract requiring their insertion for prospective application have occurred (see §§ 4.143 through 4.145). However, none of the provisions of this paragraph may be construed as altering a successor contractor's obligations under section 4(c) of the Act. (See § 4.163.)

(j) Wage determinations which are issued for successor contracts subject to section 4(c) are intended to accurately reflect the rates and fringe benefits set forth in the predecessor's collective bargaining agreement. However, failure to include in the wage determination any job classification, wage rate, or fringe benefit encompassed in the collective bargaining agreement does not relieve the successor contractor of the statutory requirement to comply at a minimum with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement insofar as wages and fringe benefits are concerned. Since the successor's obligations are governed by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, any interpretation of the wage and fringe benefit provisions of the collective bargaining agreement where its provisions are unclear must be based on the intent of the parties to the collective bargaining agreement, provided that such interpretation is not violative of law. Therefore, some of the principles discussed in §§ 4.170 through 4.177 regarding specific interpretations of the fringe benefit provisions of prevailing wage determinations may not be applicable to wage determinations issued pursuant to section 4(c). As provided in section 2(a)(2), a contractor may satisfy its fringe benefit obligations under any wage determination “by furnishing any equivalent combinations of fringe benefits or by making equivalent or differential payments in cash” in accordance with the rules and regulations set forth in § 4.177 of this subpart.

(2) In the case of holidays, a part-time employee working a regularly scheduled workweek of 16 hours would be entitled to two-fifths of the holiday pay due full-time employees. It is immaterial whether or not the holiday falls on a normal workday of the part-time employee. Except as provided in § 4.174(b), a temporary or casual employee hired during a holiday week, but after the holiday, would be due no holiday benefits for that week.

(i) If a particular determination lists as a fringe benefit “nine holidays per year” and the employee's hourly rate of pay is $4.50, the $4.50 is multiplied by 72 (9 days of 8 hours each) and the result, $324, is then divided by 2,080 to arrive at the hourly cash equivalent, $0.1557 an hour. See § 4.174(c)(4).