Published date: 08/14/2025
Aliecia Taormina, CCEP, MCA has over 20 years of experience in construction (including a role as a Senior Compliance Manager of a Fortune 300 contractor), accumulating extensive prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon knowledge over her career.
Question
If it’s necessary to return onsite for warranty work after a job has been closed, is certified payroll reporting still required? If so, can it be submitted as a #1? And what if the work isn’t being billed because it’s a warranty issue?
Answer: Yes, certified payroll must still be reported for warranty work if the work is construction in nature and performed onsite after the job has closed. The Davis-Bacon Act requires reporting for any labor performed on a covered site, regardless of billing status. Warranty work still qualifies as labor subject to prevailing wage rules. If the work is offsite or not construction-related, then it is not covered.
Regarding the question on numbering, confirm that with your client. In my experience, both starting over and marking it as #1 (as long as the last CPR was marked “Final”) is acceptable. Alternatively, you can create a single CPR that includes all the “no-work” weeks (e.g., CPR #20–35), and then make the new one #36. Keep in mind I’m making up those numbers—but you get the idea.
Question
What are the next steps if a subcontractor on a Davis-Bacon or California Public Works project states they don’t have a federal apprentice certificate?
Answer: If the subcontractor does not have a federal apprentice certificate for a worker, they would be required to pay the journeyperson rates for the federal wage determination for the individual that they do not have the certificate for. I would suggest that they reach out to the federal apprenticeship program and find out if their program is approved or if they would be required to register.
Question
What are the consequences when a sub-tier contractor submits certified payroll late, resulting in the apprentice certificate not covering the time they were onsite—since certificates are only valid for 90 days? The subcontractor’s argument is that nothing has changed, and the current apprentice certificate still shows the individual is an apprentice in good standing.
Answer: Apprentice certificates are typically valid for 90 days, and if a sub-tier contractor submits certified payroll late, the certificate may not cover the actual work period—creating a compliance gap.
If an apprentice is not certified during the time they were onsite, they must be paid as a journeyman for that period—even if currently in good standing. The argument that “nothing has changed” does not override the requirement for timely documentation.
Our system has the capability of flagging unapproved apprentices and can prevent certified payroll submission until the issue is resolved, helping identify those without proper documentation. If reviewed by a client or the USDOL, it’s likely that payment at the journeyperson rate will be required.
Question
How do you know who the contract compliance officer is on a project?
Answer: This information should be detailed on the labor posters for DBA projects. It’ll tell you how to contact the compliance officer for the project. If this information is not available, then that can be another problem in and of itself since the information is required by law (under Davis-Bacon)to be posted on the project site. I’d suggest reaching out to the prime contractor to get this clarified. It is their responsibility under Davis-Bacon as the prime contract holder to post this info.
Here is an example of a poster:
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