Service Contract Act and the Savannah River Site

[BetaAnt]

05/2001   ACTS, Inc. (Astrid Contract Technical Services, Inc.) awarded sole provider for professional staffing at SRS. Westinghouse Savannah River Company is the prime contractor.

07/2001   DOL investigation requested for Wage Determination violations at SRS. Wage Determination in effect 1994-2135 Rev.6 (wage determination series XXXX-2135 does not list health physics technicians as an occupation). Health physics technicians classified as photo-optics technicians ($17.20/hr).

09/2002   DOL completes investigation of Service Contract Act practices at Savannah River Site.

05/2003   DOL releases corrected wage determination (2003-0036 Rev. 1) dated 05/2003. ACTS,Inc. adjusts technician pay rates ($22.87/hr). This wage determination recognizes health physics technicians as a professional occupation. ACTS, Inc./WSRC adjust technician back pay from 05/01/2001 in accordance with Wage Determination 2003-0034 Rev. 2. Per SCA a new wage determination is required every two years. 

05/2005  ACTS,Inc./DOE change wage determination to 1994-2135 Rev. 25 (SF 1444 required but not available). Health physics technicians are reclassified as environmental technicians ($20.86/hr) in error. Wage stagnation begins (RCTs still paid $22.87/hr).

02/2008   ACTS,Inc. changes wage determination to 2005-2135 Rev. 3. Technicians receive $0.08 ($22.92) per hour pay raise.

08/2008   DOE/SRS contacted about SCA pay issues. DOE/SRS made decision that wage determination was proper (classifying RCTs as environmental technicians). SCA has no health physics technician occupation description. DOL classifies HPT/RCTs as nuclear technicians 19-4051. 

10/2008   DOL investigation started for wage determination violations in accordance with the Service Contract Act.

01/2010  DOL investigation stalled due to non-participation of DOE-SRS.

08/2010  DOL HQ completed investigation. Determining RCT back pay issue. 

Only one SF 1444 has been located (dated 07/2010) and RCTs are still classified as environmental technicians ($27.76/hr) instead of RCT/HPT (nuclear technicians $32.07/hr). ACTS, Inc. still inflates the technician hourly wages by including SCA health and welfare, vacation and holiday pays. These are SCA mandated benefits. The vacation pay is held in escrow and paid on your anniversary date (taxed as a bonus at 40%). If you miss any regular hours (less than 40hrs per week) you lose both holiday and vacation pay and both are unrecoverable.

Hopefully all the naysayers can understand my frustration over ACTS, Inc. and SRS.

BA 

[Rennhack]

Thanks for the informative posts.  Could you please add some links to the sources.

[BetaAnt]

05/2001   ACTS, Inc. (Astrid Contract Technical Services, Inc.) awarded sole provider for professional staffing at SRS. Westinghouse Savannah River Company is the prime contractor.   (Augusta Chronicle - May 19, 2001)

07/2001   DOL investigation requested for Wage Determination violations at SRS. Wage Determination in effect 1994-2135 Rev.6 (wage determination series XXXX-2135 does not list health physics technicians as an occupation). Health physics technicians classified as photo-optics technicians ($17.20/hr).   (http://www.dol.gov/whd/recovery/pwrb/Tab7SCACnfrmncPrcss.pdf) (http://www.dol.gov/whd/recovery/dbsurvey/conformance.htm)

09/2002   DOL completes investigation of Service Contract Act practices at Savannah River Site.   ( http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-sca.htm )

05/2003   DOL releases corrected wage determination (2003-0036 Rev. 1) dated 05/2003. ACTS, Inc. adjusts technician pay rates ($22.87/hr). This wage determination recognizes health physics technicians as a professional occupation. ACTS, Inc. / WSRC adjust technician backpay from 05/01/2001 in accordance with Wage Determination 2003-0034 Rev. 2. Per SCA a new wage determination is required every two years.    (http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/statutes/serv01.pdf
Section 4, para. (d))
 
05/2005  ACTS, Inc. / DOE-SRS change wage determination to 1994-2135 Rev. 25 (SF 1444 required but not located). Health physics technicians are reclassified as environmental technicians ($20.86/hr). Wage stagnation begins (RCTs still paid $22.87/hr).   (source email attachment from Sheila Thomas, ACTS, Inc. to Elaine Nix, SRS DOE contract officer dated 9/2008)

02/2008   ACTS, Inc. changes wage determination to 2005-2135 Rev. 3. Technicians receive $0.08 ($22.92) per hour pay raise. 

08/2008   DOE-SRS contacted about SCA pay issues. DOE/SRS made decision that wage determination was proper (classifying RCTs as environmental technicians). SCA has no health physics technician occupation description. DOL classifies HPT/RCTs as nuclear technicians 19-4051.    (no SF 1444 has been located for the re-classification per Scott Gear, DOL SC District Director)

10/2008   DOL investigation started for wage determination violations in accordance with the Service Contract Act.   (hand delivered documentation to S. Gear, DOL)

01/2010 DOL investigation stalled due to non-participation of DOE-SRS.   (phone interview with S. Gear, DOL)

08/2010 DOL HQ completed investigation. DOL HQ is currently determining the RCT back pay issue.    (meeting with S. Gear, DOL)

Only one SF 1444 has been located (dated 07/2010) and RCTs are still classified as environmental technicians ($27.76/hr) instead of RCT/HPT (nuclear technicians; $32.07/hr). ACTS, Inc. still inflates the hourly wages by including SCA health and welfare, vacation and holiday pays. These are SCA mandated benefits. The vacation pay is held in escrow and paid on your anniversary date (taxed as a bonus at 40%). If you miss any regular hours (less than 40hrs per week) you lose both holiday and vacation pay and both are unrecoverable. 

BA 

[Rennhack]

Thanks.

[steelbeam]

Interesting read:

Nuclear Waste: Actions Needed to Address Persistent Concerns with Efforts to Close Underground Radioactive Waste Tanks at DOE's Savannah River Site
(http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-816) GAO-10-816 September 14, 2010

"Emptying, cleaning, and permanently closing the 22 underground liquid radioactive waste tanks at the Savannah River Site is likely to cost significantly more and take longer than estimated............more than $600 million of this increase is due to increased funding needed to make up for significant losses suffered by Savannah River Site workers' pension plans as a result of the recent economic crisis"

What???

[BetaAnt]

SRS is a Black Hole for money. It is vast empty and bottomless. The only thing emitted is a press release.

BA