Recently, the state of California assessed a Drywall company $200,000 in back wages to their employees, $25,000 for payroll taxes, $75,000 in civil penalties, $25,000 in restitution and $50,000 for attorney’s fees.  Why were they fined?  They were fined, in part, for failing to comply with Prevailing Wage rules.   Working in the prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon arena can be very complex and confusing.  There are quite a few compliance regulations that need to be followed while working on prevailing wage projects.  Failure to follow the prevailing wage regulations can lead to potentially long court battles, fines, penalties and potential bans from future prevailing wage work.  Any contractor that wishes to embark on construction in prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon should be aware of the potential consequences that may accompany non-compliance.

This case is only one of many that the state of California’s Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has been pursuing.  As a contractor working in prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon construction there are a few compliance regulations you should remember:

  1. All employees must be paid the prevailing wage rate that is applicable to the project.
  2. All state and federal paperwork must be completed correctly.
  3. Certified Payroll reports must be completed weekly and submitted to the awarding body.
  4. If bona-fide fringe benefits are in place for your employees, all reports must be completed correctly and remitted in a timely manner with contributions to the administrator of the plan.