---
kind: "section"
citation: "40 U.S.C. § 3143"
title: "40"
title_heading: "Public Buildings, Property, and Works"
number: "3143"
heading: "Termination of work on failure to pay agreed wages"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/40/3143"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Public Buildings and Works"
  - "Part A — General"
  - "Chapter 31 — General"
  - "Subchapter IV — Wage Rate Requirements"
---

# §3143. Termination of work on failure to pay agreed wages


Every contract within the scope of this subchapter shall contain a provision that if the contracting officer finds that any laborer or mechanic employed by the contractor or any subcontractor directly on the site of the work covered by the contract has been or is being paid a rate of [wages](/usc/40/3141.md?p=2) less than the rate of [wages](/usc/40/3141.md?p=2) required by the contract to be paid, the [Federal Government](/usc/40/3141.md?p=1) by written notice to the contractor may terminate the contractor’s right to proceed with the work or the part of the work as to which there has been a failure to pay the required [wages](/usc/40/3141.md?p=2). The Government may have the work completed, by contract or otherwise, and the contractor and the contractor’s sureties shall be liable to the Government for any excess costs the Government incurs.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 107–217, Aug. 21, 2002, 116 Stat. 1151.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 3143 | 40:276a–1. | Mar. 3, 1931, ch. 411, § 2, 46 Stat. 1494; Aug. 30, 1935, ch. 825, 49 Stat. 1012. |

The words “The Government may have the work completed” are substituted for “and to prosecute the work to completion . . . thereby” for clarity.