Effective November 16, 2011, an addition was made to the California Code of Regulations Section 230.1 regarding the employment of apprentices on California public works projects.  According to the new addition, stricter parameters have been implemented regarding the Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice filing requirements (DAS 142 form).  Except for prevailing wage projects with less than 40 hours of journeyman work, all Requests for Dispatch of an Apprentice “shall be for not less than 8 hours per day per each apprentice or 20% of the estimated apprentice hours” (Title 8, Section 230.1).

We made inquiry with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) regarding this change to prevailing wage regulations and were informed that:

  • For contractors who have a public works contract with more than 40 hours of journeyman work, they MUST request a minimum of 8 hours per day for each apprentice that they are requesting.  
  • For projects that have less than 40 hours of journeyman work,  the contractor may request an apprentice for the number of hours required to meet 20% of the journeyman hours. 

These parameters are meant to ensure that contractors make the proper request for dispatch of apprentices and are not requesting fewer apprentice hours to escape the necessity to employ apprentices on public works projects.

While there may be some exceptions to these regulations, most contractors on public works projects must follow these regulations.  To find out if your company may fall into one of these exceptions, please contact your local DAS office.  You can find the contact information for each office here: http://www.dir.ca.gov/das/das_offices.htm.