Apprentices are required to be utilized on Inflation Reduction Act projects for any contractors that have had 4 or more employees performing manual/physical labor on site for the project, unless the Good Faith Effort exemption is met.
A list of Department of Labor recognized apprenticeship programs within the locality of the project can be found on the DOL’s Partner Finder (https://www.apprenticeship.gov/partner-finder).
Yes, as soon as a contractor uses 4 or more journeyman the contractor must employ apprentices.
Under IRA Final Rule, the wage determination in effect at the time the contract for the construction, alteration, or repair of the facility is executed by the taxpayer (or the taxpayer’s designee, assignee, or agent) and a contractor.
It is not about the number of employees that have been on site at any given point; it is about the total number of employees employed throughout the duration of the project that would determine whether the contractor would be subject to the Participation Requirement. “Under section 45(b)(8)(C), each taxpayer, contractor, or subcontractor who employs four or more individuals to perform construction, alteration, or repair work with respect to the construction of a qualified facility must employ one or more qualified apprentices.”
Yes! Included in both the Proposed and Final Rule for IRA projects, it is stated that the Apprenticeship Participation Requirement is triggered once there are 4 or more TOTAL employees used on the project, regardless of if there are not 4 or more employees on site at one time.
The Proposed Regulations state that ” the request cannot or have been denied of a refusal of the taxpayer or any contractor or subcontractor to comply with the requirements and standards of the apprenticeship program. Since the program requires the contractors are registered with the state and carry a license, then the contractor will need to comply.
Regardless if the overall project apprenticeship percentage is being met by one contractor, all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the project that employ a total of 4 or more individuals are responsible for utilizing at least 1 apprentice on site. If the contractor does not have apprentices available to them, a request can be made to a Registered Apprenticeship Program in the locality to acquire an apprentice as a show of a Good Faith Effort.
That employee information is not required on payroll however, we do need the employee list by the end of the project.
The “Good Faith Effort” under the Inflation Reduction Act only applies to apprentices, and it does not appear there is an equivalent means of exception for employing journeymen. While we do understand the difficulty of finding qualified individuals to be employed as journeymen on projects in given localities, it is important to note that if there is no journeyman to supervise the apprentices employed (in a 1:1 ratio as required by your Registered Apprenticeship program), Alliant advises those apprentices to be paid at the journeyman rate and would not count their hours as apprentice labor hours. Thus, the hours worked by apprentices with inappropriate supervision by journeyman would not count towards the apprentice percentage required for the project.
Per Section §1.45-12 (c)(1) the following information may need to be provided by the project owner along with payroll records when applying for the increased tax credit under the IRA: Identifying information for each employee including the name, last 4 digits of social security or tax identification number, address, telephone number, and email address.
Yes
The contract date between the project owner and each prime contractor.
The executed contract date between the taxpayer and prime contractor. In addition, the construction type being utilized on the project and the county work is being completed in.
Signed into law on August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) invests in domestic energy production, promoting the clean energy market. It includes provisions for increased clean energy tax credits or deduction amounts if prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements are satisfied. This investment will impact clean energy projects starting on January 29th, 2023.
4 or more unique employees listed on payroll.
Contractors need to employ/request for apprentices when they employ 4 or more different employees on site.
For strictly IRA projects, the prevailing wage rates can be found on the SAM.gov website.
The primary responsibility lies with the taxpayer claiming the IRA tax credit. Taxpayers should monitor their contractors’ compliance closely to ensure they are meeting the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
Apprentices are not required on DBA/DBRA projects. However, if a contractor chooses to utilize apprentices on the project they must be registered with the Department of Labor as an apprentice. If a worker is not a registered apprentice, the journeyman rate will be owed.
No, only the last 4 of the socials should be listed but the contractor needs to maintain a list of full socials on record.
Every 7 days
The certified payroll reporting form for CA is the A-1-131 form. The certified payroll reporting form for Davis Bacon & Related Acts projects is the WH-347 form.
Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage- Chapter 15 – Field Operations Handbook
The Infrastructure Bill is a Bipartisan deal that sets to rebuild roads, bridges, and rails all over the United States. In addition, the Bill will increase access to clean drinking water, fight against climate change, and supply funds to communities in need. Projects that are funded through this Bill will be subject to prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements under the Davis-Bacon Related Acts.
Overtime is owed when an employee works over 40 hours in a week. Overtime is owed at time and a half the prevailing wage rate. Double time is not required on DBA/DBRA projects.
It is required by law to utilize apprentices on Public Works for projects over $30,000 (as per LC 1777 and CCR230). Not utilizing apprentices in the correct ratio and with the proper documentation is a violation and can lead to penalties up to $300 per day.
Apprentices are required on all state public works projects with a total construction contract of $30,000 or more when utilizing and apprenticeable craft. At the end of the project, 20% of straight time hours worked on the project are required to be apprentice hours for each apprenticeable craft employed.
If a contractor is NOT approved to train apprentices, the contractor must send the DAS140 form to all the apprenticeship committees listed on the DIR Website (for the classification that applies to the contractor). If a contractor is approved to train apprentices, the contractor only needs to send the DAS140 form to the apprenticeship committee they are signatory to.
If the project is not publicly bid, the Contract Award Date can be utilized to find the Wage Determination for the project.
Starting by going to https://www.dir.ca.gov/databases/das/aigstart.asp. Then enter the county your project is located in and the classification you will be using and press search. Repeat this process for every classification that will be on that project site. Alliant does recommend that you send DAS140 forms to ALL halls listed for the applicable locality and classification(s).
eCPR must be uploaded to the DIR within 30 days. Please be advised, AB1023 went into effect on 1.1.22, which states contractors that do not submit eCPR in the specified timeframe (every 30 days) will be subject to a $100/day penalty.
Every 30 days
Here is contact information for LCPTracker support: (714) 669-0052, Option: 4 [email protected], another option that can be used in real-time is the “Live Chat” support in the top toolbar.
We recommend regularly submitting valid DAS 142 forms to all applicable halls with 72 business hours notice in order to demonstrate a good faith effort. We also recommend that a copy of each submitted DAS form along with proof of submission via Certified USPS receipt, fax transmittal verification sheet, or email confirmation is saved in order to verify a good faith effort.
Marking Box 2 indicates that a contractor will adhere to the standards set by a specific committee (this would include the standards they set on their CBA/MLA). Training payment will thus be paid to this specific committee.
Marking Box 3 indicates that a contractor will adhere to the general apprenticeship standards governed by the CAC (which is not a specific committee, but an administrator of all apprenticeship standards). Training payments will thus be paid to the CAC.
A DAS 140 form is a notification to the applicable apprenticeship halls that you have been awarded a contract to work on the California prevailing wage project. This form is not a request for apprentices.
The certified payroll reporting form for CA is the A-1-131 form. The certified payroll reporting form for Davis Bacon & Related Acts projects is the WH-347 form.
Yes. If work was not performed on a given week, a Statement of Non-Performance must be submitted as a payroll submission.
California State Prevailing Wage- Public Works Manual
A project in California is subject to prevailing wage if it is a public works project involving construction, repair, or alteration and is funded in whole or part by public funds. Projects over $1,000 or private projects receiving public subsidies also fall under this requirement, with wages set by the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR).
California Apprenticeship Council
One asterisk means there are no pre-determined increases and the rate is applicable for the life of the project. Watch out for two asterisks which indicates there are pre-determined increases!
DAS 140 and DAS 142
Assembly Bill (AB) 2143 was signed in September of 2022 and will go into effect starting January 1st, 2024. This bill will impact Solar and Renewable Energy Contractors in California, as it will require certain installation of renewable electrical generation and construction of battery storage facilities to meet prevailing wage requirements. These projects that were previously exempt from prevailing wage requirements will now be required to meet this standard or risk not being able to receive service from customer-generators under contract or tariff for net energy metering.
Pre-Bid Meetings are informational meetings, Alliant holds or attends, prior to the bid opening for a public works project. Although this meeting is not required under the law, awarding agencies may request a Pre-Bid Meeting to be scheduled to inform all contractors of their responsibilities on the project. This meeting, also known as a job walk, allows contractors to ask any questions regarding the project and all labor compliance requirements. All contractors attending will receive an informational package which include information regarding the initial construction schedule, CA prevailing wage requirements, as well as any applicable labor compliance processes for the public works project.
A certified mail receipt, fax transmittal, or email with date and timestamp
Overtime is owed when an employee works over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Overtime is owed at time and a half the prevailing wage rate. Double time may be owed depending on how many hours the employee has worked that day. It is important to refer to the footnotes for the applicable classification for any additional overtime provisions.
In California, the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) maintains a website with the prevailing wage rates. The Federal Department of Labor also publishes rates on its website.
No. The most current published sheets are effective, by county, over the Illinois Prevailing Wage public works project, as construction is ongoing. Furthermore, the archived county sheets are effective over the project if the construction had been performed between the dates of that county sheet and the next sheet. For example, if laborers had performed work for July 29, then the laborers are owed the archived Prevailing Wage rates of July 15, 2024, and not the August 15, 2024 effective rates. Based on recent updates, we recommend checking the site around the 15th of each month, as publications have occurred around this time recently. Additionally, from now until August 14th, individuals can object in writing to the Department’s published rates, and objections will be reviewed in a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, as noted in this Illinois.gov press release.
According to the Illinois DOL Prevailing Wage Office, IDOL CTP’s are required to be submitted “No later than the 15th of each calendar month following a month in which construction on the project has occurred, a contractor/subcontractor must file a certified payroll with the public body in charge of the project.”
Under the Roadway Quality Assurance Act, it is a requirement for contractors and subcontractors working for a utility company, as defined in Public Service Law §2 (23), to pay prevailing wages to workers involved in projects that fall under the category of a “covered excavation project.” The term “Utility Company” refers to individuals or corporations operating agencies for public service and are subject to the regulations and oversight outlined in the Public Service Law.
The Roadway Quality Assurance Act introduces changes to Labor Law §220 and introduces a new section, Labor Law §224-f. This legislation has a specific purpose: to guarantee that when a private utility company employs contractors or subcontractors to conduct work that requires a permit for excavating, opening, or using a public street, those workers are compensated at prevailing wage rates.
The stricter of the two requirements will apply on projects with both funding.
If an employee is not currently eligible for fringe benefit plans, an employer cannot claim credit for fringe benefit plans that they are not contributing to. The employer can pay cash in lieu of fringes or pay a base hourly rate that is at/above prevailing wage.
Even at a basic federal level, prevailing wage can quickly become tricky to navigate given its broad application. Many states have additional prevailing wage requirements that can make things even more complicated and may even seem to conflict with federal requirements at first glance. This is where understanding prevailing wage requirements and implementing oversight for such can be incredibly beneficial for project owners, especially if they are new to navigating publicly funded projects. Alliant is here to help provide guidance and consultation for such. Subject Matter Experts stay up to date on research, changes, and everything prevailing wage in order to build and offer the most current training and consultation to clients and their contractors so that they may feel better prepared to manage projects subject to their applicable requirements. Continuing support is available from Alliant’s oversight teams who work diligently in cooperation with clients and contractors to ensure they are aware of what requirements apply to their projects and what is needed from them in order to meet them. They help take the guess work out of things so that project owners and contractors can make their own, better-informed decisions, without spending the significant time required to do the research themselves, and more time doing what they do best in managing their own work and getting their projects done.
We offer customized personalized trainings as well as As-needed services to help guide your team through project requirements, should full oversight not be what your team needs.
A valid form of proof of payment is considered to be a canceled check (front and back), direct deposit journal/summary, or bank statement verifying electronic transfer.
An itemized wage statement is a listing of gross and net wages, deductions, hourly rates and hours worked for the designated pay period. It is also referred to as a pay stub. A cancelled check is a check that has been processed and paid by the bank to the employee. This can serve as proof the that net amount listed on the itemized wage statement was paid to the employee, which also verifies the rate listed on payroll. Direct deposit journal summaries can serve as proof of payment for employees that are paid in this manner.
Site visits for a project will help verify factual information about the work site ensuring laws and regulations are in accordance to the project specifics. For the employee it helps verify the type of work in according to their classification and verify wage determination/ classification. For the contractor it will assist in verification of the information submitted to ensure everything matches and is correctly submitted.
When an itemized wage statement is requested the goal is to confirm that the certified payroll report is accurate and paid to the employee for work performed. An acceptable proof of payment would be a copy of a cancelled check (showing both sides of the check), or a direct deposit statement that includes the last four of the account holders account number.
When reviewing certified payroll reporting forms for accuracy, there are often times where the amounts list on the payroll may not have been directly entered from the actual check stubs provided to the employees. Collecting a few check stubs throughout the life of the project is a great way to verify the numbers on the CPR uploaded are in fact accurate. Prevailing wage may not be verified until proof of payment is received to cross-reference.
“Apprentice Graduates” plus On “The Job Experience Journeymen” divided by “Apprentice Graduates” will get you the percentage of Skilled Journeypersons.
DISCLAIMER: The information found below are not comprehensive and is not intended to amend, interpret, or make specific any existing law or regulation for purposes of complying with prevailing wage. Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author/speaker and are not necessarily the official position of the governing law, its Director, or any related public entity. It is not intended as legal advice, and does not guarantee any outcome in specific enforcement or coverage proceedings within the governing jurisdiction. Please contact Alliant Consulting with specific questions.