Public Works

The rule

Prevailing wage is owed on every public works contract over $1,000 — work paid for in whole or in part out of public funds — and only projects of $1,000 or less sit outside the rule.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –What makes a job public works is where the money comes from, not who owns the land: construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of public funds.
• –The line is drawn at over $1,000. A project of exactly $1,000, or less, falls inside the statutory exemption.
• –An awarding body that has adopted a DIR-approved labor compliance program may choose not to require prevailing wage on projects of $25,000 or less for construction work, or $15,000 or less for alteration, demolition, repair, or maintenance work. Without that program, the $1,000 line applies.
• –Section 1771 applies to work performed under contract; it does not reach work a public agency carries out with its own forces.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –The $25,000 and $15,000 figures are not the general prevailing-wage threshold, but they are not idle either: they cap the conditional §1771.5(a) election an approved awarding body may make, and the same two figures separately mark the cutoff for DIR registration under §1771.1(n) and §1725.5(f).
• –Payment bonds also turn on $25,000 (Civ. Code §9550). That is a bonding rule, not a wage rule.
• –"$1,000 or more" and "over $1,000" are not the same sentence; the statute exempts projects of $1,000 or less.

The rule

The rate you owe is the DIR determination for that craft and county in force when the work is performed, and it is the basic hourly rate plus the employer fringe payments, not the cash rate alone.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –General determinations are issued twice a year, on February 22 and August 22, and go into effect ten days later.
• –Employer payments for health and welfare, pension, vacation, travel, subsistence, and apprenticeship or other training are a credit against the obligation. Make no such payments and there is no credit, so the whole determination has to reach the worker in cash.
• –The awarding body must cause a copy of the director's determination to be posted at each job site.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –The determination is per craft and per county, not one statewide number.
• –Paying the basic hourly rate in cash is not the whole obligation; the fringe amount is part of the rate.
• –The DIR sets the rate; the awarding body is the one that has it posted at the job site.

The rule

A CSLB licence is not enough for public works: you must also hold a current DIR public works registration, renewed on the annual fiscal-year cycle, to bid, to be listed in a bid, and to perform the work.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –The fee is $400 for one fiscal year, and you may pay in annual increments up to three years at a time ($800 for two years, $1,200 for three). That prepays the renewals; it is not a one-off lifetime registration.
• –Subcontractors register too: registration is what makes a contractor qualified to be listed in a bid proposal under Public Contract Code §4104.
• –Registration is not required for work on a public works project of $25,000 or less for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair, or of $15,000 or less for maintenance.
• –The director may set and adjust the annual fee up to $800 by publishing it on the department's website, so read the current figure rather than memorising one.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –Registration runs per contractor per year, not per project.
• –The DIR registration and the CSLB licence run on separate clocks; renewing one does not renew the other.
• –Buying three years at once is prepaying three annual increments, not registering once and for all.

The rule

On a public works contract of $30,000 or more you must employ apprentices for at least one hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyman work in that craft.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –The ratio is measured across the contract, not shift by shift: the computed apprentice hours must be worked before the end of the contract.
• –Contracts of a general contractor, or of a specialty contractor not bidding through a general or prime contractor, that involve less than $30,000 are outside the section.
• –Apprentices come from a state-approved program; ask for them with a DAS 142 dispatch request at least 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) before you need them.

Worked contrast

journeyman hours ÷ 5 = the minimum apprentice hours

Common mix-ups

• –1:5 is not one apprentice for every five journeymen on the crew. It counts hours of work, not heads.
• –Falling short on a single day is not by itself a violation; the count runs over the whole contract.

The rule

Before you start work you must send contract award information (the DAS 140) to each applicable apprenticeship committee within ten days of executing the contract, and a knowing second violation of the apprenticeship rules can keep you off public works for up to three years.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –The ten days run from execution of the prime contract or subcontract, and in no event later than the first day you have workers employed on the public work.
• –DAS 140 is the award notice, one per applicable craft. DAS 142 is the later request to dispatch apprentices, at least 72 hours before you need them.
• –The project notice to the DIR is the awarding body's filing, within 30 days of the award and no later than the first day a contractor has workers on the public work. It is not the contractor's form.
• –The money penalty and the bidding ban live in two different sections: civil penalties in §1777.7, ineligibility to bid in §1777.1.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –Section 1777.7 no longer carries the bidding ban. Since it was repealed and re-added in 2014 it sets civil penalties, and the up-to-three-year ineligibility sits in §1777.1(d)(1).
• –DAS 140 and DAS 142 are different filings on different clocks, and the DIR project notice belongs to the awarding body.

The rule

On a DIR-monitored public works job the payroll records for every worker go to the Labor Commissioner in electronic form at least once every 30 days, not only to the awarding body.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –The record shows each worker's name, address, social security number, work classification, straight time and overtime hours worked each day and week, and the actual per diem wages paid, and it carries a written declaration under penalty of perjury that the information is true and correct.
• –Monthly means at least once every 30 days while work is being performed on the project, and once more within 30 days after the final day of work.
• –The format is electronic, in the manner the Labor Commissioner prescribes on the department's internet website.
• –Separately from that upload, a certified copy must be made available for inspection or furnished on request to the employee or the employee's representative, to the awarding body, and to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –Sending the records to the awarding body is not the whole duty. On a monitored job they also go to the Labor Commissioner.
• –Two different $100 penalties. The §1771.4 one runs per day and stops at $5,000 for the project; the §1776(h) one runs per day for each worker until the records are produced.
• –Payroll compliance runs to the Labor Commissioner. Neither the county recorder nor the local building official is a recipient of certified payroll.

The rule

On a public works contract in excess of $25,000 the direct contractor must give a payment bond before work starts, and the bond has to be executed by an admitted surety insurer.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –The payment bond exists because public property cannot be liened; it stands behind the workers, subcontractors and suppliers who have no lien to record.
• –A bid bond, or other bidder's security, is submitted with the bid and guarantees the successful bidder will sign the contract and furnish the required bonds.
• –A performance bond is executed by the party awarded the contract for the faithful performance of the contract; it answers to the awarding body, not to the suppliers.
• –Admitted surety insurer means a surety company licensed and authorised to transact that business in California. A bank, an insurance agent, or the awarding agency itself cannot stand in for it.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –The payment bond and the performance bond are both furnished by the prime, but they protect different people.
• –The $25,000 figure belongs to the payment bond, not to the prevailing-wage threshold.

The rule

You cannot lien public property, so an unpaid claimant serves a stop payment notice on the public entity to make it hold back project funds, and once a notice of completion, acceptance or cessation is recorded there are 30 days to do it.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –If no notice of completion, acceptance or cessation is recorded, the window is 90 days after cessation or completion.
• –On receipt, the public entity must withhold from the direct contractor funds sufficient to pay the claim stated in the notice, plus its reasonable cost of any litigation.
• –Rights against the construction fund on a public works contract are governed exclusively by this chapter; no other legal or equitable theory reaches that fund.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –Civil Code §9558 is the deadline for suing on the payment bond. The 30-day and 90-day stop-notice windows are §9356.
• –Recording a notice of completion shortens the window from 90 days to 30. It never extends it.

The rule

Work someone past 8 hours in a day or 40 in a week on a public work without paying at least one and one-half times the basic rate, and you forfeit $25 for that worker for that day on top of the overtime you still owe.

When it applies — and when it does not

• –It does not matter whether you required the extra hours or merely permitted them, and the forfeiture runs for each calendar day on which it happened.
• –Underpaying the prevailing wage is a different violation with a different number: not more than $200 for each calendar day for each worker, set by the Labor Commissioner on good faith and prior record, plus the wage difference.
• –Every employer except the state must secure the payment of workers' compensation, on public and private jobs alike.

Worked contrast

Common mix-ups

• –$25 and $200 are two different penalties: $25 is the overtime forfeiture, $200 is the ceiling for underpaying prevailing wage.
• –Workers' compensation is not a public-works-only requirement; the same coverage is required on private jobs.