McKenney's, a subcontractor, was not paid $66,950 by the general contractor GTS on a CDC project in Atlanta. McKenney's sued under the Miller Act federal payment bond. The court ruled that pay-when-paid clauses in subcontracts cannot prevent a subcontractor from collecting on the federal payment bond. This means federal law protects your right to payment regardless of what your subcontract says about waiting for the prime contractor to get paid first.
Pay-when-paid clauses in your subcontract cannot block your claim against the Miller Act payment bond—federal law overrides them