DAS 140 and DAS 142 deadlines, explained
The DAS 140 is due to the applicable apprenticeship committee within 10 days of the date you signed the prime contract or subcontract, and no later than the first day you have workers on the job, under 8 CCR 230. The DAS 142 dispatch request needs at least 72 hours notice, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays, under 8 CCR 230.1. One honest note up front: WellStanding files certified payroll, not DAS forms, and this guide exists because our customers keep asking how the two fit together.
The difference between DAS 140 and DAS 142
In one line: the DAS 140 says you have the job. The DAS 142 asks for the apprentice. They go to the same committees, but they are not interchangeable, and missing either one is treated the same way under the law behind them.
| Form | What it does | Deadline | Penalty for missing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAS 140, Public Works Contract Award Information | A notice to the apprenticeship committee that you have a covered contract. It is not a request for apprentices. | Within 10 days of the date you executed the prime contract or subcontract, and no later than the first day you have workers employed on the public work (8 CCR 230) | Treated as noncompliance with Labor Code 1777.5: up to $100 per calendar day if the Labor Commissioner finds you knowingly violated that section, and up to $300 per day for a second or subsequent violation within three years if the noncompliance results in apprenticeship training not being provided (Labor Code 1777.7), plus possible denial of the right to bid on public works, up to one year on a first serious violation and up to three years on a repeat (Labor Code 1777.1) |
| DAS 142, Request for Dispatch of an Apprentice | Your written request that a program send apprentices to the job. It is the request; the DAS 140 is only the notice. | At least 72 hours before the date you need the apprentice on site, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays (8 CCR 230.1) | Same exposure as the row above. A late or missing request means the apprentice ratio was not satisfied through proper channels, which is the same 1777.5 violation the DAS 140 protects against. |
DAS 140: what is on it, and who gets it
The written notice covers eight things: who you are and how to reach you, the awarding body, the jobsite location, the date the contract was awarded, your expected start date, your estimated journeyman hours, the number of apprentices you plan to employ, and their approximate employment dates. DAS Form 140 is one way to provide this; the regulation lets you use any written notice that carries the same information.
Where it goes depends on your own status. If you are already approved to train by an apprenticeship program sponsor in the craft, the notice goes to that program's committee. If you are not approved to train, it goes to every applicable committee whose geographic area of operation covers the jobsite, for each apprenticeable craft on the project. Forms and the committee lookup live on DIR's apprenticeship pages at dir.ca.gov/das.
DAS 142: what is on it, and what "72 hours" actually means
The 72 hour clock excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, so a request made late Thursday for a Monday start does not clear it. The request itself states who you are, the project, the craft or trade, how many apprentices you need, and the date and duration of the work. There is a floor on the size of a single request: you must ask for at least an 8 hour day of work per apprentice, or 20 percent of the estimated apprentice hours for the job, whichever is more, unless the project has fewer than 40 estimated journeyman hours (8 CCR 230.1).
One detail that surprises contractors: DAS Form 142 itself is optional. The regulation requires the written request, on time, with the required information. Using the state's form is simply the easiest way to prove you did it. If a program cannot dispatch anyone, keep its response; that response, next to your timely request, is what shows you tried.
The ratio behind both forms
Both forms exist to keep you inside the apprentice to journeyman ratio in Labor Code section 1777.5: at least one hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyman work, measured on straight time, with a program's own standards allowed to set a stricter ratio and a $30,000 exemption for small specialty contracts. Satisfying it takes three things together: employing registered apprentices or properly requesting dispatch, paying them the apprentice rate from the wage determination for their period of training, and making the training fund contributions the determination lists. Run your own numbers on the apprentice ratio calculator, and see how the contribution side works on CAC training fund contributions.
Why the paperwork is your defense
The dollar figures above are what the statute allows, not a schedule anyone gets billed automatically. Two practical points matter more than the numbers. First, the paperwork is the defense: a contractor who sent the DAS 140 on time, requested dispatch on the DAS 142 with proper notice, and kept the committee's response has a compliance story even when no apprentice ever arrived, and the Labor Commissioner may, with the concurrence of an apprenticeship program, order equivalent apprentice employment instead of the fine on a first violation (Labor Code 1777.7). Second, enforcement usually starts from your certified payroll, because missing apprentice hours are visible right there in the classification column, the same record covered on certified payroll deadlines and certified payroll penalties.
How this fits with your certified payroll
- Apprentices appear on certified payroll with their apprentice classification and period, at the apprentice rate the determination sets, not a discounted journeyman line.
- Training fund contributions appear in the fringe fields, and whether they flow to the program or the Council changes nothing about their visibility on the filing.
- The ratio math runs on the hours your filings report. Clean, consistent filings make your apprenticeship position provable; late or sloppy ones make even a compliant contractor look exposed.
Where we stand on DAS filings
WellStanding does not prepare or file the DAS 140 or DAS 142. Those go straight from you to the applicable apprenticeship committee, using the forms and committee lookup at dir.ca.gov/das. What we handle is the half of apprenticeship compliance that lives inside the payroll record: apprentice classifications, rates, and training contributions rendered correctly on every WH-347 and eCPR, so the filings that trigger apprenticeship scrutiny are the same filings that answer it. First filing free, pricing on the home page.