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Employment - Prevailing Wages

The federal government and the State of California spend billions of dollars per year on publicly-funded construction projects. The federal prevailing wage law, known as the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 and its California counterpart, California Labor Code §§ 1771 et seq., requires that constructions workers on these projects receive fair wages and benefits for the work they perform. Both state and federal prevailing wage protections are afforded to any laborer, mechanic or other worker employed on a public works project. These rates are often greater than wages earned by workers employed in private construction projects. Both contractors and sub-contractors on public works projects are charged with knowing and complying with all provisions of the prevailing wage law.

Some of the most common ways contractors and subcontractors violate prevailing wage laws are:

• Classifying an employee incorrectly to pay a lower wage;
• Forcing employees to work more hours than are reported;
• Forcing employees to work on private work for a lower wage while they are also employed on a public works project at the correct prevailing wage;
• Requiring overnight travel without paying the proper per diem rate;
• Forcing employees to bank hours;
• Keeping employees off the book or paying wages in cash;
• Not treating a project that was funded, in whole or in part, with public funds as a prevailing wage job.

For a free copy of the DLSE's "Public Works Manual," which includes a discussion of California prevailing wage laws, please click here.

To view the DLSE's "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) regarding Prevailing Wages, please click here.