The California DAS forms are the paperwork that keeps a public works contractor compliant with Labor Code Section 1777.5. There are three: the DAS 140 reports your contract award to local apprenticeship committees, the DAS 142 requests that a committee dispatch apprentices to your site, and the CAC2 reports your training fund contributions to the California Apprenticeship Council.1Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Division of Apprenticeship Standards – Public Works Information Each has its own deadline, its own recipient, and its own consequences if you miss it.
When the Forms Are Required
Not every public works contract triggers the paperwork. Labor Code Section 1777.5 exempts contracts under $30,000 for general contractors, and for specialty contractors who are not bidding through a general or prime.2California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 1777.5 At or above that threshold, you file regardless of whether you personally plan to use apprentices.
A separate threshold affects dispatch only. If a craft will involve fewer than 40 hours of journeyworker work on the project, the eight-hour dispatch rule does not apply.3Department of Industrial Relations. Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice – DAS 142 Form You still owe the DAS 140 on any covered contract above $30,000; small hour counts shrink the dispatch obligation, not the award notice.
DAS 140: Contract Award Information
The DAS 140 tells apprenticeship committees that you’ve been awarded a covered contract and declares how you intend to meet your apprenticeship obligations. The form is a downloadable PDF on the DIR website.4Department of Industrial Relations. DAS 140 – Public Works Contract Award Information
You’ll fill in your legal business name, address, CSLB license number, the project name and PWC project number, the awarding agency, the contract amount, the award date, the county of work, and each craft classification you plan to employ. If the project spans more than one trade, each craft needs its own submission routed to the committees for that trade.
The box selections on the form carry the most weight. If you are already approved to train apprentices through a program, you check that box and send the DAS 140 only to the committee that approved you for the relevant craft and area. If you are not approved to train, you must send the DAS 140 to every apprenticeship program in the project’s geographic area for each craft you’ll employ.5California Department of Industrial Relations. Apprentices on Public Work Projects Summary of Requirements Miss that distinction and you’ve sent the form to the wrong number of committees.
The other boxes govern your ratios. Checking the box to comply with a specific program’s standards for this project only can open up a more generous maximum apprentice ratio, though the 1:5 minimum still applies.6Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Public Works Information – Frequently Asked Questions Checking the box to be governed by California Apprenticeship Council regulations locks both the minimum and maximum at 1:5. Read the box language before you select, because that choice controls obligations for the entire project.
Deadline: the DAS 140 must reach the applicable committees within 10 days of the contract award date, but no later than the first day workers are on site, whichever comes first.5California Department of Industrial Relations. Apprentices on Public Work Projects Summary of Requirements That second half is the one that trips people up. If your crew mobilizes quickly, the 10-day window shrinks to however many days pass before someone sets foot on the project. If your start date is imminent, send the DAS 140 the day the contract is signed.
DAS 142: Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice
The DAS 140 announces your contract. The DAS 142 asks a committee to actually send workers to your site.3Department of Industrial Relations. Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice – DAS 142 Form The DAS 140 instructions themselves note that contractors must make a separate dispatch request under Section 230.1 of Title 8.4Department of Industrial Relations. DAS 140 – Public Works Contract Award Information
The form asks for the number of apprentices needed, the craft or trade, the date and time they should report, the physical address of the job site, and the name of the person they should report to on arrival.7Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 8 230.1 – Employment of Apprentices on Public Works On projects with 40 or more journeyworker hours in a craft, you must request and employ apprentices in increments of at least eight hours.3Department of Industrial Relations. Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice – DAS 142 Form
Deadline: the DAS 142 must be submitted in writing at least 72 hours before apprentices are needed, excluding weekends and holidays.3Department of Industrial Relations. Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice – DAS 142 Form In practice, that’s three business days of lead time.8Department of Industrial Relations. Public Works Apprenticeship Requirements
If a committee can’t fill your request or doesn’t respond, document that failure carefully. A good-faith dispatch request is your primary defense if you end up short on apprentice hours at the end of the project. The form itself, the transmission receipt, and any committee response all become evidence.
CAC2: Training Fund Contributions
Beyond the DAS forms, every contractor employing journeyworkers or apprentices in an apprenticeable trade on a covered public works project must contribute the prevailing training amount for the area where work is performed.2California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 1777.5 If you already pay into an approved program that can supply apprentices to the project, those payments credit against the CAC obligation.
The CAC2 is filed online through the DIR website. You’ll enter your contractor details, CSLB license number, contribution period, county and location of work, craft classification, total hours worked, and the applicable rate.9Department of Industrial Relations. CAC – Training Fund Contributions The system generates an invoice coupon that you print and mail with your payment. Payments are due by the 15th of each month. If no work was performed in a given month, no form is needed.
The rate is not a flat statewide number. It varies by trade and area because it tracks the prevailing training contribution figure, so check the prevailing wage determination for your project to find the correct amount. The money is pooled and distributed as grants to approved multi-employer apprenticeship programs serving the same craft and area where it was collected.10Department of Industrial Relations. California Apprenticeship Council (CAC) Training Funds
Where to Send Them and How to Prove You Did
The DAS 140 and DAS 142 go to the local apprenticeship committees, not to a central state office. DIR publishes the forms but doesn’t receive them. Sending your paperwork to DIR instead of the committees counts as a missed submission.
The DAS 142 form lists first-class mail, fax, and email as acceptable methods, and some committees also accept submissions through their own portals. Whichever route you use, keep the confirmation. A postal receipt, fax confirmation page, or sent-email record is what proves you met the 72-hour deadline. The same discipline applies to the DAS 140: proving the committee received it on day 9 matters when an auditor is counting backward from the first day on site.
The Ratio the Forms Support
Every contractor on a covered project must maintain a minimum of one hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyworker work in each craft.2California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 1777.5 The ratio is calculated per craft, not across all trades combined, and only straight-time hours count on either side. A hundred straight-time journeyworker hours in a craft means at least 20 apprentice hours in that same craft by project end.11Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Minimum Ratios
The statute also requires you to employ apprentices during any day or portion of a day when journeyworkers are on site, and to make your best effort to use apprentices during the same periods as journeyworkers in the same trade.2California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 1777.5 Cramming apprentice hours in at the end of a project is technically allowed, but it draws scrutiny and makes compliance harder to show. If a committee can’t fill your DAS 142 and you have the paperwork to prove you asked in time, that’s where the request becomes your defense.
Penalties for Getting It Wrong
Labor Code Section 1777.7 sets the penalty structure. A contractor or subcontractor who knowingly violates Section 1777.5 faces a civil penalty of up to $100 for each full calendar day of noncompliance. A second or subsequent knowing violation within three years, where the noncompliance results in apprenticeship training not being provided, raises the maximum to $300 per calendar day.12California Legislative Information. California Code, Labor Code LAB 1777.7 Penalties are imposed per contract, so violations across multiple projects stack.
The Labor Commissioner may reduce a penalty if the amount would be disproportionate to the severity of the violation, and weighs factors including whether the violation was intentional, whether the contractor took steps to fix the problem after notice, and the extent to which apprentices lost training opportunities.12California Legislative Information. California Code, Labor Code LAB 1777.7 For first-time violations, the Labor Commissioner can also order the contractor to provide equivalent apprentice employment hours instead of imposing a monetary penalty, but only with an applicable apprenticeship program’s agreement.
Serious or repeated violations can also result in debarment from public works contracts for up to three years.13Department of Industrial Relations. Enforcement of Public Works Law Enforcement itself sits with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement rather than the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, so an audit compares your submitted forms against certified payroll and actual site activity.1Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Division of Apprenticeship Standards – Public Works Information The forms are the paper trail; the payroll is the proof. Both need to match.