Prevailing Wage California: Master Electronic Filing
Last Updated: September 2026
Prevailing wage in California is the minimum hourly rate, including fringe benefits, that contractors must pay workers on public works projects funded in whole or in part by public money. Rates are set by the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and vary by trade classification, by county, and by the date the project was advertised for bids.
California runs one of the most demanding prevailing wage systems in the country, and not just because the rates are high. The state layers requirements no other state combines in quite the same way: a coverage threshold of only $1,000, mandatory contractor registration before you can bid, electronic-only certified payroll reporting, daily overtime rules that go beyond the federal standard, and apprenticeship ratios enforced project by project.
Most compliance failures here are not failures to understand the law. They are failures of tracking. This guide covers what applies to your projects, where the rates come from, how to file, and what the mistakes actually cost.
Not working in California? Check out our state-by-state guide to prevailing wages in a variety of states.
Table of Contents
- California Prevailing Wage Basics
- California vs Federal Davis-Bacon
- How California Prevailing Wage Rates Are Determined
- DIR Contractor Registration
- Certified Payroll Reporting and eCPR Filing
- Fringe Benefits and Overtime
- California Apprenticeship Requirements
- Violations and Penalties
- Compliance by Project Phase
- Frequently Asked Questions
California Prevailing Wage Basics
California's prevailing wage law lives in Labor Code sections 1720 through 1861. The Department of Industrial Relations administers it, and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) handles enforcement.
Under Labor Code section 1720, a public works project is construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work paid for in whole or in part out of public funds. The phrase "in part" matters. A project with mixed public and private funding can still be covered.
Prevailing wages apply to public works projects over $1,000 under Labor Code section 1771. That is a low bar, and it catches contractors who assume small jobs fall outside the system.
There are two separate exemptions in California, and they get confused all the time.
The labor compliance program exemption. If the awarding body has a labor compliance program approved by the DIR Director, prevailing wages are not required on construction projects under $25,000, or on alteration, demolition, repair, or maintenance projects under $15,000. This only exists when the awarding body has an approved program. Do not assume it applies.
The small project exemption. Contractors working exclusively on projects at or below $25,000 for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work, or at or below $15,000 for maintenance work, are not required to register with the DIR or file electronic certified payroll reports for those projects. Records still have to be kept and produced on request.
Same dollar figures, two different purposes. The first affects whether you owe prevailing wages at all. The second affects whether you have to register and file electronically. Owning prevailing wages and filing certified payroll reports are two different obligations.
California Prevailing Wage vs Federal Davis Bacon
Both systems set a wage floor on publicly funded construction. They apply to different funding sources and they operate independently.
The federal Davis-Bacon Act applies to federally funded construction contracts over $2,000. California's prevailing wage law applies to state and locally funded public works over $1,000.
On a project with mixed federal and state funding, both can apply, and the higher applicable rate governs.
The two also differ in how rates are set and how you report:
- Rate setting. California rates come from local collective bargaining agreements. Davis-Bacon rates come from U.S. Department of Labor wage surveys.
- Reporting. Federal projects use Form WH-347. California requires Form A-1-131 submitted through the DIR's eCPR system. You cannot substitute one for the other, and assuming you can is a common and expensive error.
DIR Contractor Registration
Under Labor Code sections 1725.5 and 1771.1, contractors and subcontractors must be registered with the DIR to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal for, or perform work on a California public works project.
Registration currently costs $400. The registration year runs July 1 through June 30, and contractors can register or renew for up to three years at a time.
Registration is not the same thing as a CSLB license. A contractor can hold an active contractor's license and still be ineligible to perform public works if DIR registration has lapsed.
The requirement runs down the entire contracting chain. A prime cannot list an unregistered subcontractor in a bid proposal, and an unregistered sub cannot perform any work on the project. Expect to be asked for proof before a prime brings you onto a job.
The penalties are real:
- Up to $8,000 for a contractor who performs work without registering
- Up to $10,000 for a contractor who hires an unregistered subcontractor
- $100 per day, up to $10,000, for an awarding agency that hires an unregistered contractor
Contractors working exclusively on projects that fall under the small project exemption described above are not required to register.
How California Prevailing Wage Rates Are Determined
There is no single California prevailing wage rate. Rates vary by craft classification, by county, and by the date the project was advertised for bids. Anyone quoting one number for the whole state is guessing.
Under Labor Code sections 1773 and 1773.1, the DIR Director sets the general prevailing rate of per diem wages from local collective bargaining agreements, using the basic hourly rate paid to a majority of workers in a given craft.
Issue Dates and Effective Dates
General determinations are issued twice a year, on February 22 and August 22. They take effect ten days after the issue date: March 3 in a leap year or March 4 otherwise for the February determination, and September 1 for the August determination.
The determination in effect on the bid advertisement date governs for the life of the project, subject to predetermined increases. Look up the advertisement date, not the start date.
What the Symbols on a California Determination Mean
California determinations use two markers that change what you owe, and both are easy to miss.
Every determination carries an expiration date followed by an asterisk.
- Single asterisk (*). The rate in effect at bid advertisement holds for the life of the project, however long it runs.
- Double asterisk (**). Increases to the basic hourly rate, overtime, holiday pay, and employer payments have already been determined. If work extends past the expiration date, the new rates must be paid, and they belong in your bid now rather than absorbed later.
A hash mark (#) next to a craft title means the craft is apprenticeable and subject to Division of Apprenticeship Standards requirements. It is the fastest way to know which crafts trigger a DAS 140 filing.
For the anatomy of a determination itself, including how to interpret classifications, fringe line items, and revision history across federal, state, and union rates, see our full guide on how to read a wage determination.
How to Look Up Rates by County
- Go to the DIR's general prevailing wage determinations page.
- Select the determination period that matches your bid advertisement date. Period 1 covers advertisement dates from early March through August 31. Period 2 covers September 1 through early March.
- Choose journeyman or apprentice determinations.
- Select your county.
- Find your craft classification. Watch for the hash mark.
- Record the basic hourly rate, each employer payment, the expiration date, and the asterisk.
If a craft or classification is not covered by a general determination, the awarding body can request a special prevailing wage determination. That request has to be made at least 45 days before the bid advertisement date, so it needs to be caught during preconstruction, not after award.
Keep Your California Rates Accurate Before Payroll Runs
WageIQ manages prevailing wage and union rate calculations across counties and crafts, including the biannual determination changes that are easy to miss when you are running several projects at once.
California does not accept mailed paper certified payroll on most public works projects. Contractors and subcontractors submit records electronically to the Labor Commissioner through the DIR's electronic certified payroll reporting system, known as eCPR. As a best practice, keep all payroll records for a minimum of three years.
How Often
Labor Code section 1771.4 requires submission at least monthly, or more frequently if the contract specifies. In practice, most contracts and labor compliance programs require weekly. Read the contract rather than defaulting to monthly.
The 10-day rule
If the DIR or the awarding body makes a written request for your records under Labor Code section 1776, you have 10 days to produce them. Miss that window and the penalty is $100 per worker per day until you comply. On a crew of 20, that is one of the fastest ways a paperwork lapse becomes a five-figure assessment.
How to submit
Enter each record manually through the DIR's online form, which works fine for a small crew on one job, or upload an XML file built to the DIR's certified payroll schema, which is the only realistic approach at volume.
Public visibility
Submitted records are searchable through CPR Public Search. Social Security numbers, home addresses, and telephone numbers are withheld, but the rest of your payroll is visible to anyone who looks.
Common eCPR Rejection Causes
Most rejected submissions come down to the same handful of issues:
- Classification mismatches. Work classifications have to match DIR approved categories exactly. Minor wording variations get rejected.
- Outdated XML schema. Files built to superseded schema versions are rejected automatically. Pull the current version before each reporting cycle.
- Missing project number. Every submission references the project's registration number. If the awarding body has not filed its notice of contract award, you cannot file.
- Incomplete worker data. Full legal names, addresses, and Social Security numbers must be present and correctly formatted.
- Fringe shortfalls. Benefit calculations below the required rate for the classification will not pass validation.
- Skipped weeks. Every week needs a submission, including weeks when nobody worked.
Two habits prevent most of this: test a small batch before submitting a full payroll period, and keep manual entry available as a fallback so a technical failure does not become a late filing.
Fringe Benefits and Overtime Under California Prevailing Wage
A California prevailing wage rate has two components: the basic hourly rate and employer payments, commonly called fringe benefits. Both are published together on the county determination, and both count toward what you owe.
Fringe categories include health and welfare, pension, vacation and holiday, training, and other. You have flexibility in how you deliver them: provide actual benefits, pay the cash equivalent, or combine the two.
Training fund contributions work differently. They must be paid in the amount set by the wage determination, either to the applicable apprenticeship committee or to the California Apprenticeship Council.
California Daily Overtime
This is where California departs from the federal standard, and it catches contractors used to Davis-Bacon.
California requires overtime for work over eight hours in a day, not only over 40 hours in a week. A worker who puts in ten hours on Tuesday and takes Friday off has earned overtime, even though the week totals under 40.
Labor Code section 1813 imposes a $25 penalty per worker for each calendar day a worker is required or permitted to work more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week in violation of the article.
California Apprenticeship Requirements
Labor Code section 1777.5 and Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations section 230.1 require contractors to employ apprentices on public works contracts valued at $30,000 or more. This applies to every contractor and subcontractor on the project, regardless of what an individual subcontract is worth. A $12,000 subcontract on a $400,000 project is covered.
The ratio. One hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyman work, calculated by craft across the project. Each project is evaluated on its own, so you cannot average ratios across your workforce or offset a shortfall on one job with surplus hours on another.
Identifying apprenticeable crafts. Look for the hash mark on the wage determination. If the craft title carries one, apprenticeship requirements apply.
Training contributions. Pay the amount set in the wage determination to the applicable apprenticeship committee or to the California Apprenticeship Council.
Registration and coverage. Apprentices must be registered in an approved apprenticeship program for the classification they are working in, and they must be covered by workers' compensation.
DAS 140: Notifying Apprenticeship Committees
The DAS 140, formally the Public Works Contract Award Information form, notifies apprenticeship committees that a public works project will use apprentices in a given craft. It is a project notice, not a payroll document, and it lets committees plan dispatches and monitor ratios.
Deadline. Submit within 10 days of signing the contract, and no later than the first day of work, whichever comes first.
Who files. Every contractor and subcontractor performing apprenticeable work, filed separately for each craft. If you are not approved to train apprentices, the DAS 140 goes to all apprenticeship committees that can supply apprentices to the project site.
A point that trips people up. An individual contractor exemption granted under Labor Code section 1777.5(j) or (k) affects your ratio obligations, not your filing obligation. Per the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, you still submit the DAS 140. The same holds for short jobs: work under 40 hours does not exempt you, though you can request apprentices in increments of less than eight hours.
DAS 142: Requesting Apprentice Dispatch
The DAS 142, the Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice form, is how you formally ask an approved apprenticeship program to send apprentices for a craft on your project. The DIR requires it at least three business days before apprentices are needed.
For a walkthrough of the form itself, see our guide on how to fill out a DAS 142 form.
DAS 140 vs. DAS 142
| DAS 140 | DAS 142 | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Notice of contract award | Request for apprentice dispatch |
| Deadline | Within 10 days of contract signing, before first day of work | At least three business days before apprentices are needed |
| Recipient | Applicable apprenticeship committees | Approved apprenticeship program |
| Filed per craft | Yes | Yes |
California Prevailing Wage Violations and Penalties
California's penalty structure stacks. A single project can generate assessments under several sections at once.
Up to $200 per calendar day for each worker paid less than the prevailing rate. The Labor Commissioner sets the amount based on whether the error was a good faith mistake promptly corrected. Minimums apply: not less than $40, not less than $80 if you were penalized within the previous three years, and not less than $120 if the failure was willful. Back wages plus interest are owed on top of the penalty. Read more.
$25 per worker per day.
$100 per worker per day after the 10-day window closes.
Up to $8,000, plus up to $10,000 for hiring an unregistered subcontractor.
Monetary penalties, plus possible debarment from bidding on or performing public works for up to three years.
Under section 1775(b), primes must include copies of sections 1771, 1775, 1776, 1777.5, 1813, and 1815 in their subcontracts, review subcontractor certified payroll periodically, and take corrective action on discovering underpayment, including withholding funds. A prime that does none of this can be held liable for its subcontractors' violations.
California Prevailing Wage Compliance by Project Phase
Pre-Bid
- Confirm your DIR registration is active, and confirm the same for every subcontractor you plan to list.
- Confirm the project exceeds $1,000 and determine whether either exemption applies.
- Determine whether funding is state, federal, or mixed.
- Pull the wage determination for the county and every craft, using the bid advertisement date to identify the correct period.
- Check for double asterisks and build predetermined increases into your bid.
- Identify apprenticeable crafts by the hash mark and budget for the one to five ratio and training contributions.
- Submit the DAS 140 within 10 days of contract signing and before the first day of work.
- Capture the project number from the awarding body's notice of contract award for eCPR.
- Post prevailing wage and fringe benefit rates conspicuously at the job site.
- Confirm your payroll system's classifications match DIR approved categories exactly.
During the Project
- Submit the DAS 142 at least three business days before apprentices are needed.
- File eCPRs at the frequency your contract requires, including zero-hour weeks.
- Track apprentice and journeyman hours by craft on each project separately.
- Apply daily overtime above eight hours.
- Review subcontractor certified payroll and act on discrepancies.
- Retain records for three years and produce them within 10 days of a written request.
California Prevailing Wage, Handled Your Way
California combines a low coverage threshold, county rates that change twice a year, mandatory registration, electronic-only reporting, daily overtime, and project-by-project apprenticeship ratios. Understanding the rules is the easy part. Tracking all of it across multiple projects, counties, and crafts is where compliance actually breaks down.
California contractors trust us to keep their prevailing wage compliance on track, and we know the DIR's expectations inside and out. Managed your rates in-house with WageIQ, which keeps prevailing wage and union calculations accurate before payroll runs, or hand the whole process to our Managed Service team, who generate your certified payroll reports and manage your DIR submissions for you. Whichever way you work, our experts have your back.
Frequently Asked Questions About CA State Prevailing Wage
Prevailing wage in California is the minimum hourly rate, including fringe benefits, that contractors must pay workers on public works projects funded in whole or in part by public money. The Department of Industrial Relations sets these rates under Labor Code sections 1773 and 1773.1. Rates vary by trade classification, by county, and by the date the project was advertised for bids.
There is no single California prevailing wage rate. Rates vary by craft, by county, and by the determination period tied to your bid advertisement date. The DIR issues general determinations twice a year, on February 22 and August 22, and each takes effect ten days after its issue date. To find your rate, match the determination period to your bid advertisement date, then select your county and craft classification on the DIR's determinations page.
Contractors and subcontractors on public works projects over $1,000 must pay prevailing wages under Labor Code section 1771. A public works project is construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work paid for in whole or in part out of public funds. One exception applies: if the awarding body has a DIR-approved labor compliance program, prevailing wages are not required on construction projects under $25,000 or on alteration, demolition, repair, or maintenance projects under $15,000.
California requires certified payroll to be submitted electronically to the Labor Commissioner through the DIR's eCPR system. You can enter records manually through the online form or upload an XML file built to the DIR's certified payroll schema. Labor Code section 1771.4 requires submission at least monthly, though most contracts and labor compliance programs require weekly, so check your contract. Keep records for three years.
The DAS 140 notifies apprenticeship committees that your public works project will use apprentices in a given craft, and it is due within 10 days of signing the contract and no later than the first day of work. The DAS 142 is how you formally request that an approved program dispatch apprentices, and the DIR requires it at least three business days before apprentices are needed. Both are filed per craft, and both apply to public works contracts valued at $30,000 or more.