WHATS NEW?
New changes and updates to California prevailing wage
Effective January 1 there are two changes to the California Labor Code which will impact prevailing wage. The most significant change is the imposition of fines upon contractors who fail to submit their payroll information to the DIR’s eCPR. Contractors have, for years, been required to submit CPR’s electronically to the State. However, there has never been a penalty imposed if the contractor did not do so. This seemed appropriate as the DIR has publicly stated that they do not have the staff or time to review the payroll and therefore the payroll submitted to the eCPR are not reviewed. Now, a contractor can be fined $100 per day per worker for every day the payrolls are delinquent (late). It does not matter if there are no errors in the CPR, the fact that the CPRs have not been submitted in a timely manner can trigger this penalty. Remember that CPRs are to submitted to the eCPR not later than 30 days after the close of the pay period.
The second change is a minor one relating to the production of CPRs requested by third parties. It is part of an overall change the Legislature made to various statutes involving the production of documents to the public. Please remember that depending on who is making the request for the certified payroll will depend on what personal employee information is redacted. And, anyone (except for the DIR, the Awarding Agency and your prime contractor) requesting copies of the certified payroll, can be asked to pay for the copies as set forth in the California Code of Regulations.
