WHAT'S NEW?    

A New SF1444 Form

With the new Davis Bacon regulations last year, there is a new conformance form. Not a major change, but there is no longer a requirement for a “contracting officer” to submit the request or sign the form if the project is not a direct Davis Bacon project. Now, if you are receiving a grant or other federal funding or events which trigger Davis Bacon, the form has been altered to allow the owner of the project to submit the request and the form is a little more user friendly. To get the new form, go to: https://www.gsa.gov/system/files/2023-10/SF1444-23.pdf . 

The requests go electronically to WHD-CBACONFORMANCE_INCOMING@dol.gov. CCMI’s advice is that you should also include a cover letter giving the DOL a little information about the project, along with the basis for your wage request and a scope of work. Our recommendation is that you submit your first conformance request with the help of a consultant who has done these before. The process is not difficult, but there are ways to expedite a response from DOL and that protocol is important to learn from an experienced consultant like CCMI.

A New Year Brings New Laws to California

Just a quick reminder that California has added several employment related laws to the California Labor Code. CCMI recommends the California Chamber of Commerce Labor Law Guide as a handy reference. It has a special section on new laws as well as excellent explanations and forms for compliance with other employment laws. Most important to prevailing wage requirements is the increase time required for paid Personal Time Off (PTO). The law requires an employer to track and grant 1 hour of paid PTO for every 30 hours worked with a new cap of 10 days (80 hours). If you decide not to track the hours and instead grant your employees a lump sum of PTO at the beginning of the year, that has now increased from 3 days to 5 days (40 hours).

UPCOMING SEMINARS AND SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES

Upcoming Training:

January 16th 1 hour review of “What ‘s New and Trending in California Prevailing Wage”. Sponsored by California Special Districts Association. Contact www.csda.net to sign up for this informative webinar.

February 15th All day, in person training in San Diego County. California and Federal Prevailing Wage- a Deep Dive. Sponsored by Associated Builders and Contractors of San Diego. Contact www.abcsd.org for more information and to sign up for this event 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. PST in Poway, CA

February 20th Webinar for contractors working in the County of Baltimore, Maryland. Focusing on Maryland and specifically the County’s Labor Compliance Program 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. PST More information to follow.

April 16th and 17th CSDA California Prevailing Wage for Public Agencies – a Deep Dive. 9a.m.-12 noon PST both days via webinar. Contact www.csda.net to for details and to sign up.

April 18th Davis Bacon update 2 hour presentation via webinar 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. PST- details to follow.

If you need more training, Deborah Wilder is the presenter on the LCPtracker Academy Prevailing wage workshops. Go to www.LCPtracker.com and select the education tab.

Want to schedule your own prevailing wage workshop?

We will customize a workshop or webinar for you and your Agency/Account. Contact us at: info@ccmilcp.com 

ANSWER: 

First, PTO is required for any direct Davis Bacon (DB) contract. Remember there are direct DB contracts and then those contracts which trigger Davis Bacon requirements, but are not direct contracts with the federal government (grants, IRA, money flowing through a state or local agency). These latter contracts are referred to as DBRA contracts (Davis Bacon Related Acts). Federal prevailing wage applies to both sets of projects, but the PTO only applies to direct DB projects. The PTO accrues at 1 hour of PTO for every 30 hours of time worked with a cap of 7 days (56 hours). There are other rules relating to forfeiture and reinstating hours if an employee returns to work for the same employer within a 12 month period. However, other states are now imposing PTO requirements as well and of course those requirements are different. As of 2024, California has an accrual cap of 10 days or 80 hours. However, California has a 2nd option of front end loading the PTO (no accrual calculation) and then only 5 days (40 hours ) are required. So, in that latter case, one needs to determine if the higher DB cap to PTO will apply.

Actually, it all depends on how many hours your employees work on a DB project (as the DB PTO accrual only applies to hours worked on those DB projects.) In California, your employees would have to work more than 1200 hours on a direct DB project before you would have to worry about DB PTO ( 40 hours – new required minimum PTO x 30 hours = 1200). If instead you are allowing accrual of PTO and have a cap of 10 days, then you are already complying with the accrual rule under DB. Other states have different minimums. So, run the minimum calculations for those states and keep track of your employee hours on DB projects.