U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
OFFICE OF THE SOLCITOR
WASHINGTON 25
July 18, 1958
Captain James I. Benson, CEC, U.S.N.
Director, Contractor Labor Relations
Bureau of Yards and Docks
Department of the Navy
Washington 25, D. C.
Re: Strickland Brothers
Portsmouth, Virginia
Contract Nos. NOy-88609,
NQy-83025 and NBy-3618
Your File: C-130B/ad P8-1
Our Files: E-58-472 thru 475
Dear Captain Benson:
Reference is made to your letter of February 25, 1958,
transmitting your very thorough status report relative to compli-
ance with the labor standards requirements of the subject contracts.
Inasmuch as the evidence does not substantiate any of the numerous
violations charged by the complainant, we have closed our files in
this matter in accordance with your recommendation.
With reference to paragraph IV of the report, however, it
must be borne in mind that there are instances in which work may be
performed away from the physical construction site and yet be cov-
ered by the Davis-Bacon Act. For example, this Office has long
recognized that truck drivers employed by a contractor or subcon-
tractor on a construction job may be engaged in duties which are
functionally so closely integrated with the work taking place at
the site of the installation that they are regarded as construc-
tively perfoming work there even though literally they may be
elsewhere. This position is based on the nature of the occupation
of this class of employees and their continuous relationship with
the job site work. This principle does not, of course, apply to
truck drivers who are employed by bona fide materialmen since the
activities of such employees relate to the supplying of materials
by their employers, the materialmen, rather than to the construc-
tion required by the contract. In such a situation, the delivery
of supplies is considered to be functionally integrated with and
incidental to the sale of materials and therefore not subject to
the Davis-Bacon Act and related prevailing wage statutes.
A similar situation obtains with respect to sheet metal
workers who alternate between the job site and an off-site shop in














Captain James I. Benson          page 2
the course of their duties. Although such employees are required by
the nature of their occupation to perform part of their work away
from the geographical location of the installation, they are never-
theless, regarded as being constructively employed on the site of
such work since their activities are at all times functionally
integrated with the required construction, Consequently, employees
who fabricate sheet metal materials which they also install on the
project to which the Davis-Bacon Act applies and who in the perform-
ance of their duties alternate between the shop and the place where
the installation takes place are subject to the applicable predeter-
mined wage rate for the time spent in shop work and in traveling
between the shop and the construction site.
We trust that the above discussion will be of assistance
to you in connection with future compliance investigations. Your
interest in this matter is appreciated and if I can be of assistance
to you in regard to this or other problems, please do not hesitate
to call on me.
Very truly yours,
Stuart Rothman
Solicitor of Labor
By
James R. Beaird
Acting Assistant Solicitor