Public works reforms (SB 854) were signed into law on June 20, 2014 as part of the State Budget. The reforms made several significant changes to the administration and enforcement of prevailing wage requirements by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). One requirement of SB 854 stated that DIR establish an Electronic Certified Payroll Reporting (eCPR) system and beginning January 1, 2016, that all contractors and subcontractors must furnish electronic certified payroll records directly to the Labor Commissioner (also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement) through the eCPR system.
The phase-in timetable for this requirement was as follows:
- June 20, 2014: Any project that was being monitored by the CMU/Labor Commissioner prior to the adoption of SB 854 will continue to be monitored by the Labor Commissioner afterward; and the contractors on those projects must continue to furnish certified payroll records to the Labor Commissioner until the project is complete.
- April 1, 2015: For all new projects awarded on or after this date, the contractors and subcontractors must furnish electronic certified payroll records to the Labor Commissioner.
- January 1, 2016: All contractors must furnish electronic certified payroll records to the Labor Commissioner through the eCPR data system.
SB 854 also required that awarding bodies submit a PWC-100 notice (contract award notice) for all public works projects to DIR. An awarding body must submit a PWC-100 in order for contractors to submit their eCPR. Awarding bodies are required to provide notice to DIR on all projects within five days of project award. Awarding bodies must register in the PWC-100 project registration system www.dir.ca.gov/pwc100ext/ in order to notify DIR of their public works projects.
Once the program launched, our office fielded numerous calls and e-mails from contractors who were frustrated with the new eCPR system. The most common complaint was that previously existing payroll systems used by contracting agencies are more user friendly than the XML format DIR chose. After meeting with the DIR to discuss the issues our contractors were having with implementation of the system, DIR issued a notice that put the eCPR system on hold while DIR works on improvements. The hold applies to all public works projects that were subject to the eCPR requirement.
Public works contractors, subcontractors and awarding agencies must still adhear to the 85-year-old requirement to keep certified payroll reports (CPRs). However, there is no need to use the DIR eCPR system until further notice. DIR has issued additional notices to provided clarification that they do not plan to require retroactive submission of eCPRs once they have completed the upgrades to the eCPR system, and a reminder to awarding bodies to register projects by using the PWC-100 form. The improved system will begin testing within the next month and DIR is anticipating having it ready by August 2016.
All relevant notices can be found at the following links:
Notice to awarding bodies: www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/Public_Works_Notices.htmll
Notice of eCPR delay: www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/eCPR_important_notice.pdf
Notice clarifying eCPR requirement: www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/Notice_Clarifying_CPR_Requirements.pdf