Apprentices on Davis-Bacon projects: registration, wage percentages and ratios

Registration comes first

A worker qualifies as an apprentice only while individually registered in a bona fide apprenticeship program registered with the Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship or a state apprenticeship agency recognised by it. A trainee, helper or “apprentice” who is not individually registered is a laborer or mechanic and must be paid the journeyworker rate for the classification of work performed. Keep the registration certificate or program letter on file for each apprentice; agencies ask for it.

The wage is a percentage of the journeyworker basic rate

Registered programs publish a progression schedule — for example 50% in the first period rising to 95% in the last. The apprentice is paid that percentage of the journeyworker basic hourly rate listed in the wage determination for the classification, plus fringe as the program specifies. If the program is silent on fringe, the full fringe amount in the determination is owed. The percentage follows the apprentice's current period, so a step-up during a project changes the rate from that date.

The ratio is measured every day

Each registered program sets an allowable ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers, and the contractor must stay within it on the job site each day. If a program allows one apprentice for every three journeyworkers and a crew of four has two apprentices, one of them is over the ratio and must be paid the full journeyworker rate for that day. The ratio is applied to workers actually present, per contractor, per classification, not to the company's overall headcount.

Because the ratio is daily, the payroll evidence is daily too: who was on site, in which classification, and at which rate. Weekly totals cannot show compliance with a daily rule.

What to record on the WH-347

Column 2 of the form marks each apprentice as RA with their level or period, and column 3 carries the classification. The rate in column 6A is the apprentice percentage rate actually paid. Keep the program's ratio and schedule with the payroll records so a reviewer can check the daily ratio and the percentage without contacting the program.