California Labor Code 1776, explained

What section 1776 does

It does four things. It requires every contractor and subcontractor on a public work to keep accurate, certified payroll records. It says who can inspect those records or get copies. It gives you 10 days to produce them after a written request, and it sets what has to be redacted on copies that go outside. And it fixes the forfeit for missing the 10 day window: $100 per worker, per calendar day, collectible from your progress payments. It is not the statute that makes you file with DIR; that is section 1771.4, covered at the end.

Subdivision (a): the record, and the certification

Each contractor and subcontractor must keep accurate payroll records showing, for each journeyman, apprentice, worker, or other employee on the public work, the name, address, social security number, work classification, straight time and overtime hours worked each day and week, and the actual per diem wages paid. Each record must contain or be verified by a written declaration made under penalty of perjury stating two things: that the information in the record is true and correct, and that the employer has complied with sections 1771, 1811, and 1815 for the work performed. That declaration is what makes a payroll record a certified payroll record, and it is the contractor's to sign.

Subdivision (b): who can inspect or get copies

The records must be certified and available for inspection at all reasonable hours at the contractor's principal office, on this basis:

• (b)(1) An employee, or the employee's authorized representative, gets a certified copy of that employee's own record on request.
• (b)(2) A representative of the awarding body, and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, get certified copies of all records on request.
• (b)(3) The public may get copies, but only through the awarding body or DLSE. If the awarding body does not hold the records it obtains them from the contractor. If the records were not already provided under (b)(2), the requester first reimburses the costs of preparation. The public may not be given access at the contractor's principal office.
• (b)(4) When an awarding body seeks records for a public request, the contractor has 10 days from receipt of a written notice to comply. If it does not, the awarding body notifies DLSE, which may request that penalties be withheld from progress payments then due, as described in subdivision (h).

Subdivision (c): the form of the records

Unless the records must be furnished directly to the Labor Commissioner electronically under section 1771.4, they are on forms provided by DLSE or contain the same information as those forms. Computer printouts of payroll data qualify if they contain the same information and are verified the way subdivision (a) requires.

Subdivision (d): the 10 days

A contractor or subcontractor must file a certified copy of the records with the entity that requested them within 10 days after receipt of a written request. The clock runs from receipt of a written request, not from a phone call, and it runs to filing, not to starting. The records request page lays out a day by day plan.

Subdivision (e): what gets redacted

Copies furnished to the public or to a public agency by the awarding body or DLSE are marked or obliterated to prevent disclosure of an individual's name, address, and social security number. The name and address of the contractor awarded the contract, or of the subcontractor performing it, are not obliterated. Two requesters get more: a multiemployer Taft-Hartley trust fund requesting records to allocate contributions gets the last four digits of the social security number, and a joint labor management committee under the federal Labor Management Cooperation Act gets the record with only the social security number masked. Copies of electronic certified payroll records do not satisfy requests from those two; they get DLSE's form or its equivalent.

Subdivision (f): enforcement agencies

Agencies in the Joint Enforcement Strike Force on the Underground Economy, and other law enforcement agencies investigating violations of law, get nonredacted copies on request. What those agencies furnish onward to the public is redacted. An employer is not liable in a civil action for a reasonable act or omission taken in good faith under this subdivision.

Subdivision (g): where the records live

The contractor tells the awarding body the location of the records, street address, city, and county, and within five working days gives notice of any change of location and address. A records request that goes to the wrong office is still a request.

Subdivision (h): the forfeit

The contractor or subcontractor has 10 days to comply after receipt of a written notice requesting the records. Failing that, it forfeits, as a penalty to the state or political subdivision on whose behalf the contract was made, $100 for each calendar day, or portion of a day, for each worker, until strict compliance is effectuated. On the request of DLSE, those penalties are withheld from progress payments then due. A contractor is not subject to a penalty under this section for a subcontractor's failure to comply. There is no cap in the subdivision; the calculator shows how fast it compounds.

Subdivisions (i) and (j): contracts and rules

The awarding body must insert stipulations in the contract to effectuate the section, which is why your contract documents repeat these duties. The Director adopts rules consistent with the California Public Records Act and the Information Practices Act governing release of the records, including reasonable fees for reproducing copies.

How 1776 fits with 1771.4

Section 1776 is about keeping, certifying, and producing records. Section 1771.4 is the separate duty to furnish those records directly to the Labor Commissioner electronically, at least every 30 days while work is performed and within 30 days after the final day, or more often if the contract says so, with its own penalty of $100 per day up to $5,000 per project, levied only after 14 days. A records request under 1776 often arrives because the 1771.4 filing stopped. Both run at once, and the eCPR filed under 1771.4 is built from the same records 1776 requires.

What it means on a Monday morning

• Certify every week's payroll with the perjury declaration, signed by someone with authority. Uncertified records are not the records the statute describes.
• Know where the records are and tell the awarding body. Move offices, send the notice within five working days.
• Treat any written request as a 10 day clock from the day it arrives, and file a certified copy with whoever asked.
• Redact correctly for the requester in front of you, and keep the unredacted set at the principal office.
• Keep the 1771.4 eCPR filing current so the 1776 request never comes as a surprise.

Questions