Alabama Prevailing Wage

The US Government Printing Office publishes a list of Davis-Bacon Wage Determinations by State. Review current Alabama prevailing wage. However, don't forget that the wage determination you are supposed to use may be different than the one on the GPO website - you should always refer to the bid spec to insure you are using the correct wage determination for your Alabama prevailing wage job!

Sub-contractors on Alabama Davis-Bacon projects should file their paperwork with the project's General Contractor. It is then the responsibility of the General Contractor on the job to submit the paperwork to the contracting agency.

For Alabama Davis-Bacon jobs, Certified Payroll Reports are required to be completed and sent in on a weekly basis. However, please be advised that some contracting agencies may ask for additional paperwork - so please check with the contracting agency to confirm that they only require the CPR to be completed.

• The state of Alabama does not have a state mandated apprenticeship regulation, a requirement to request apprentices or a general training fund. However, for those Alabama contractors who are contracted with a specific apprenticeship committee, they must follow that committee’s apprenticeship regulations and contribute to their training fund.  
• Also, please remember that Davis-Bacon Apprenticeship wages are set by the specific apprenticeship committee governing the trade and are not part of the wage decision.

• • • While you are waiting for a response from the DOL you do have obligations under Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. You must pay no less than the wage and benefit rates listed on the general Davis-Bacon wage decision for the lowest specialized trade that most closely resembles the trade in question.

Alabama Special Prevailing Wage Determinations should be requested from the federal Wage and Hour Division by the Contracting Officer or Agency.  Please be advised that the Davis-Bacon & Related Act provisions contain a conformance procedure for the purpose of establishing an enforceable wage and benefit rate for missing/unlisted classifications.

As a little Davis-Bacon state, Alabama is governed by federal Davis Bacon rules. In general, determinations have no pre-determined increases – the prevailing wages are good for the life of the project. However, special determinations can be requested by the awarding body on a per project basis.

For Alabama Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Wage decisions are required to be contained within the bid documents.  If no prevailing wage decision is included, contact the contracting agency or awarding body of the project.

In the state of Alabama, the federal government's Department of Labor determines the prevailing wage.  The DOL determines this rate based on the hourly rate paid on public works projects to a majority of workers engaged in a particular craft, classification or type of work. More specifically, the DOL bases those prevailing wage rates on workers who are located within the locality or nearest labor market area.

Your contracting agency is responsible for hiring inspectors who will perform on-site inspections and interviews for your AL Prevailing Wage job. The contracting agency will also audit your payroll records for Davis-Bacon Compliance. In the event that the contracting agency's inspections find egregious errors, the inspector may bring in the DOL for further enforcement.