Work Preservation Fund, Inc.

Monitoring Painting, Taping, Glazing, Floor Covering and Allied Trades on Public Works Projects throughout northern California

Find Your Hourly Wage on
Public Works Projects

A nonprofit labor/management cooperative venture insuring fair competition through contract compliance since 1977

Contractors

The Work Preservation Fund is available to provide answers to your public works questions for projects in Northern California.  If we don’t know the answer, we will work with you to find it!

Work Preservation Fund’s investigations and the resulting enforcement actions help eliminate cheating contractors from public works, and contribute to more competitive bidding practices.  Once a contractor has lost all profit on a public works project due to citations for violations which result in assessments for unpaid wages and fines, their bids on future projects tend to become more competitive.

We are not aware of every public works project (throughout Northern California) though, so you can help by letting us know when there is a project you would like us to monitor.  Fill out as much information as possible on WPF’s Referral Form and send it to us, and we will keep you updated on the investigation.  Be aware that the timeline for these investigations may run into years.  Once the project is complete, if WPF has found violations and files a complaint with the appropriate state agency, the state of California may take up to 18 months to investigate a submitted complaint.

The minimum information we need on the Referral Form from a contractor is the official name of the project (listed by the awarding agency on the Invitation to Bid), and the name of the awarding agency.  If you have any other information and/or any bid information from the awarding agency or the general contractor, please also include it with the Referral Form.  Fill out the form and submit it to Work Preservation Fund here: https://www.wpfcompliance.org/referral/

“BASIC APPRENTICESHIP REQUIREMENTS ON CALIFORNIA PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS”

California Labor Code 1777.5 requires that contractors on all public works projects over $30,000 must employ registered apprentices, for all apprenticeable crafts, in a ratio of one apprentice hour for every five journeyman hours.   This ratio refers to man-hours.  For example, if there are 200 journeyman painter hours on a public works project, there needs to be 40 apprentice hours.  The apprentice must be a registered apprentice.  To find our whether an apprentice is registered, go to: http://www.dir.ca.gov/das/appcertpw/AppCertSearch.asp.

California has a new requirement that any contractor desiring to work on public works projects must be registered with the state’s Division of Industrial Relations (DIR). You may register by going to DIR’s link at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/PublicWorksContractorsAndSubcontractors.html

For a fact sheet regarding this requirement, click here: http://www.dir.gov/DLSE/PublicWorks/SB854FactSheet_6.30.14.pdf

  • Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) Form 140 – Notice of Contract Award
    • If you are approved to train, this must be sent to your approved apprenticeship training committee, within 10 days from award of contract, but in no event later than the first day the contractor has workers employed on the public works project.
    • If you are not approved to train, this must be sent to all approved apprenticeship training committees for your trade, in the geographical area of the project. To find the approved programs for your project area, go to: http://www.dir.ca.gov/databases/das/aigstart.asp
  • DAS Form 142 – Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice
    • This form is sent to your approved apprenticeship committee to request an apprentice be dispatched to your project.  The form must be sent in at least 72 hours prior to the date you want the apprentice on site.
    • If you are unable to obtain enough apprentices to meet the required ratio, then this must be sent to all approved training programs in the geographical area of the project.
    • Although not necessarily required, if you already have registered apprentices in your employ, and will not need to request dispatch in order to meet your ratio requirement, we suggest you still send the form, writing that you will not be requesting apprentices because you already have registered apprentices in your employ.  Some awarding agencies require the form before payment, and this will help to minimize any delays of payment.
    • Except for projects with less than 40 hours of work, you must request and employ apprentices in no less than 8 hour increments (CCR Title 8, section 230.1).]
  • Training Fund Contributions –    “A contractor to whom a contract is awarded, who, in performing any of the work under the contract, employs journeymen or apprentices in any apprenticeable craft or trade shall contribute to the California Apprenticeship Council the same amount that the director determines is the prevailing amount of apprenticeship training contributions in the area of the public works site. Training funds are due & payable by the 15th of the month after the month the work was performed.”
    • “A contractor may take as a credit for payments to the council any amounts paid by the contractor to an approved apprenticeship program that can supply apprentices to the site of the public works project.”  DIR Website