On June 23, 2026, the New York Court of Appeals issued a significant decision in Walton v. Comfort Systems USA (Syracuse), Inc., answering previously unsettled certified questions from the Second Circuit with important implications for employers performing work on public projects in New York. The Court held that under Labor Law § 220, the statutory requirement to pay prevailing wages is incorporated into every covered public works contract by operation of law—even when the written contract is silent on the issue or expressly disclaims a prevailing wage obligation.
Legal Background
New York’s prevailing wage requirement for public work projects has deep roots. Article I, § 17 of the New York Constitution, first adopted in 1905, declares that “[l]abor of human beings is not a commodity nor an article of commerce” and mandates that workers on public projects receive “not less than the rate of wages prevailing in the same trade or occupation in the locality.” Labor Law § 220 codifies and… Read the complete article here...
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