How to Fill Out the California DAS 7: Agreement to Train Apprentices

The California DAS 7 form, formally titled the Agreement to Train Apprentices, is a one-page pledge an employer signs to become a participating training employer in a specific apprenticeship program. By signing it, you agree to train apprentices in a designated occupation according to that program’s standards and apprentice agreement.¹ It is administered by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) within the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR).

The DAS 7 is not a project filing. It does not notify anyone about a contract award, and it does not request that apprentices be sent to your jobsite. Those are separate forms with their own deadlines, and mixing them up is one of the more common compliance mistakes on public works.

When You Sign a DAS 7

You sign a DAS 7 when you want to be recognized as a training employer under a specific apprenticeship program. In practice, that happens in two situations.

The first is joining a program voluntarily. An employer contacts an apprenticeship committee, often a joint apprenticeship training committee for a particular craft, and agrees to take on apprentices for training. The DAS 7 formalizes that relationship.

The second is public works contractors who train their own apprentices. Contractors already approved under a program’s standards send their contract award information (DAS 140) to their own committee. The DAS 7 they signed earlier, when they first joined that program, is what makes them “already approved to train.”²

If you are a contractor who simply receives dispatched apprentices from a committee, you do not need to sign a DAS 7. The DIR has stated explicitly that contractors receiving dispatched apprentices are “not required to sign any additional documents, such as the DAS 7 (Agreement to Train Apprentices), or agree to any other conditions set forth by a program.”³ The dispatched apprentice already belongs to a program. Your obligation is to employ and supervise them at the required ratio, not to become a training signatory.

How to Fill Out the Form

The DAS 7 itself is one page. Some apprenticeship programs attach supplementary pages, such as an employer acceptance agreement, but the core form is straightforward. You can get a copy from the apprenticeship program you are joining or from the DAS forms page on the DIR website.

The form asks for the following:⁴

Employer name, as it appears on official records.
Mailing address, including street, city, state, and ZIP.
Telephone number for the business.
Training location address, if apprentices will train somewhere other than the mailing address.
Occupation or occupations in which you will train apprentices, such as electrician, plumber, or carpenter.
O*Net code corresponding to the listed occupation. The apprenticeship program can provide this if you don’t know it.
Area covered, meaning the geographic area or the name and address of the project where training will occur.
Effective date and end date of the agreement.¹
Signature, printed name, title, and date of an authorized representative of the employer.

Some programs include an additional employer acceptance agreement, sometimes labeled “Appendix D” or something similar, that restates the training obligations in more detail and lists the specific occupations covered. If your program provides one, sign it alongside the DAS 7.

What You Are Agreeing To

Signing the form binds you to the apprenticeship standards maintained by the program. California regulation sets out what those standards must contain, so signing commits you to the following.

On-the-job training. You provide hands-on work experience in the designated occupation, following the work processes in the program’s standards.⁵

Apprentice-to-journeyworker ratios. You employ apprentices at the ratio specified in the program’s standards. On public works, the floor is one hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyworker work in the same craft, counting straight-time hours only.⁶⁷ A program’s own ratio applies if you are governed by its standards, but it cannot drop below that floor on public works.

Progressive wages. Apprentice pay increases at intervals set by the program standards as the apprentice gains experience.⁵

Related instruction. The program arranges classroom or supplemental instruction through a local education agency. Your role is making sure the apprentice has time to attend.

Record-keeping. You maintain records of each apprentice’s job progress, worksite assignments, and hours toward graduation. For building and construction trades, the program must give each apprentice a semiannual statement showing hours completed and hours remaining.⁵

Safety training. You provide training and supervision in first aid, safe working practices, and recognition of occupational hazards.

The apprentice agreement itself is a separate document. That agreement, between the program, the employer, and the individual apprentice, must be signed by the employer (or agent), the apprentice, and the apprentice’s parent or guardian if the apprentice is a minor.⁸ The DAS 7 gets you into the program as a training employer; the apprentice agreement covers each individual apprentice you take on.

DAS 7 Compared to DAS 140 and DAS 142

Three DAS forms come up on public works, and they do three different things. Knowing which is which matters, because the deadlines and consequences attach to the project-level forms, not to the DAS 7.

DAS 7 (Agreement to Train Apprentices) is the employer’s commitment to an apprenticeship program. You sign it once, when you join the program as a training employer. It is not tied to any particular project bid.

DAS 140 (Notification of Contract Award) is the project filing with the 10-day deadline. It notifies apprenticeship committees about a newly awarded public works contract and must be sent within 10 days of signing the contract or subcontract, and no later than the first day you have workers on the job.³ It must include an estimate of journeyworker hours, the number of apprentices you plan to employ, and the approximate dates apprentices will be needed. If you already have a DAS 7 on file with a program, you send the DAS 140 to your own committee. If not, you send it to every apprenticeship committee that can supply apprentices to your project site.²

DAS 142 (Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice) is the form contractors use to ask an apprenticeship committee to send apprentices to the jobsite. It must be submitted at least three business days before apprentices are needed.²

Both the DAS 140 and DAS 142 are required even on projects that take fewer than 40 hours.³ The DAS 7 sits apart from both of those project-level filings and does not substitute for them.

Keeping a Copy

Keep a copy of the signed DAS 7 with your other apprenticeship records, along with any supplementary employer acceptance agreement the program had you sign. The form establishes your status as an approved training employer under that program, and that status is what lets you file the DAS 140 with your own committee rather than every committee in the project area. During inspections by the Labor Commissioner’s Office or DIR, being able to produce the signed agreement is what documents that status.

1
Department of Industrial Relations. DAS 7 – Agreement to Train Apprentices
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Department of Industrial Relations. Public Works Apprenticeship Requirements
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Department of Industrial Relations. More Information on Public Works Apprenticeship Requirements
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Department of Industrial Relations. DAS 7 – Agreement to Train Apprentices
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New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 8 CCR 212 – Content of Apprenticeship Program Standards
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California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 1777.5
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Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Division of Apprenticeship Standards – Minimum Ratios
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Justia. California Labor Code 3070-3099.5