2706

LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 775

(d)  Upon the entry and service of such order, the
public body interested shall pay to the workmen and
apprentices the full amount of wages due and shall satisfy
the liquidated damages, as determined by the Commissioner,
from the moneys due the contractor or subcontractor. The
Commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered to make any
and all rules and regulations from time to time, that may be
necessary to effectuate the purposes of this subtitle,
including, but not limited to, the authority to make a
determination as to the amount of restitution and the amount
of liquidated damages to be assessed for violations of the
provisions of this subtitle. In no event shall such
determination of restitution preclude an employee from
instituting suit to recover any payments due him.

(e)  It shall be lawful for any contractor to withhold
from any subcontractor under him sufficient sums to cover
any amounts of money withheld from him pursuant to this
section by the awarding body on account of said
subcontractor's failure to comply with the provisions of
this subtitle, and if payment has already been made to him,
the contractor may recover said sums from him in a suit at
law.

[102.] 8-508.

Any workman or apprentice employed by the contractor or
any subcontractor who is paid in a sum less than the
stipulated prevailing hourly wage rates for work done under
the contract, shall have a right of action to recover the
difference between the amounts so paid and the wage rates
provided by the contract, and an action brought to recover
same shall be deemed to be a suit for wages, and any and all
judgments entered therein shall have the same force and
effect as other judgments for wages. It shall not be a
defense to such an action that the underpayments were
received by said workman or apprentice without protests,
either oral or in writing, against the amount thereof, and
the lack or failure of protest shall not be a bar to
recovery of the difference between the amounts paid and the
wage rates provided by the contract.

[103.] 8-509.

(a) No person, firm, or corporation shall violate the
wage provisions of any contract contemplated herein or
suffer, or require any employee to work for less than the
rate of wages so fixed, or violate any of the provisions
contained herein. Where workmen are employed and their rate
of wages has been determined as provided herein, no person,
either for himself or any other person, shall request,
demand, or receive, either before or after the workman is
engaged, that the workman pay back, return, donate,
contribute, or give any part or all of the [workmen's]
WORKMAN'S wages, salary, or things of value, to any person,
upon the statement, representation, or understanding that