Elation Systems certified payroll in California: what it is and what it does not do

What Elation Systems is

Elation's home page calls its system a cloud-based service for Davis-Bacon, labor, and contract compliance reporting. On its Davis-Bacon, Prevailing Wage, and Labor Compliance page, the feature list includes electronic certified payroll reporting and workflow management, electronic signing, automatic prevailing wage verification, and data processing for any accounting system. The same list describes nationwide Davis-Bacon project management. The page does not mention California or DIR.

Elation sells to agencies. Its government page offers labor compliance, contract compliance, and Section 3 tools, and its product page says the system lets a client automate the tracking, monitoring, and enforcement of Davis-Bacon and local prevailing wage projects. The same page says a client using Elation's data processing engine can automate certified payroll data collection and prevailing wage certifications without placing any administrative burdens on contractors and subcontractors. BART says contractors on its projects submit their reports through Elation. Its support page lists free webinars open to contractors and subcontractors, plus online training materials and videos for all users.

Who requires it

We can source one California awarding body to its own page. BART says contractors on its public works projects submit electronic certified payroll reports through Elation Systems, and that contractors must also submit them to DIR. The same page says BART's Labor Compliance Unit collects, monitors, and documents those reports, checks them through site visits and worker interviews, and starts enforcement when it finds violations. See certified payroll requirements for BART projects for the filing side.

BART's Labor Compliance Fact Sheet adds timing. It asks for certified payroll records and fringe benefit statements on the District's designated website, and for records to DIR as required, each within seven days of the week ending date, and warns that a missed submission can get a payment application rejected. The file name carries the date 9.1.17, so check your contract for the current terms.

Other agencies may use Elation too, and your bid documents name the system. We list no other California agency because we could not confirm one from the agency's own site.

Does an Elation upload satisfy DIR?

No. Three sources agree.

1. The statute. Labor Code section 1771.4(a)(3)(A) says each contractor and subcontractor furnishes its payroll records directly to the Labor Commissioner, in electronic format, on the department's internet website. It must happen at least monthly, or more often if your contract with the awarding body says so. The statute defines monthly as at least once every 30 days while work is being performed, and within 30 days after the last day of work. Elation is not the department's website.
2. DIR's own FAQ. The DIR eCPR FAQ asks whether a contractor who files with a union, the prime contractor, the awarding body, or a labor compliance program still has to file with DIR. The answer is yes, because that filing "does not put you in compliance with the state" unless you file eCPRs directly with DIR. A second DIR FAQ says that submitting to other agencies does not fulfill the requirement and that contractors must submit using DIR's online system.
3. BART. Its page lists the Elation submission and the DIR submission as two separate duties.

Elation's pages do not say otherwise. We read its home, product, government, contractor, and support pages. None says Elation files with DIR. The only California references are links on the support page to DIR's prevailing wage and apprentice resources. If someone says Elation covers your DIR filing, ask DIR to confirm it in writing.

Elation upload and DIR eCPR, side by side

What happens if you file only in Elation

The Labor Commissioner can penalize $100 for each day you are in violation of the direct filing duty, capped at $5,000 per project, under Labor Code section 1771.4(a)(3)(B). Under Labor Code section 1771.4(a)(3)(C), the Commissioner may not levy that penalty until 14 days after the filing deadline in clause (i) of subparagraph (A) has passed. Our guide to certified payroll penalties in California covers the other penalties that can stack on top.

When you might not owe DIR a filing

Read the exemptions before you assume. DIR's exemptions page and the DIR eCPR FAQ both list two kinds of exempt project. The first is projects monitored by four legacy labor compliance programs: Caltrans, the City of Los Angeles, LAUSD, and the County of Sacramento. BART is not on that list. The second is projects covered by qualifying project labor agreements, and the FAQ says that exemption is at the Labor Commissioner's discretion. Labor Code 1771.4(b) says the Labor Commissioner may exempt a project when the awarding body has enforced an approved labor compliance program continuously since December 31, 2011, or has a collective bargaining agreement that binds all contractors on the project and includes a way to resolve wage disputes. BART's page says several of its projects are under Project Stabilization Agreements. Neither DIR page says whether any of them qualifies, so ask DIR before you skip a filing.

The DIR FAQ also lists a small project exemption for projects that do not exceed $25,000 for new construction, alteration, installation, demolition or repair, or $15,000 for maintenance. See the small project exemption for what it removes. An exemption from the DIR filing says nothing about whether BART still wants the Elation upload. That is a contract question.

Filing in both without typing twice

1. Read the contract. Find the system and the deadline.
2. Confirm the project is registered with DIR. DIR's FAQ says projects must be registered with DIR using the PWC-100 form before contractors and subcontractors can submit certified payroll records for them. You cannot file a DIR eCPR until the awarding body has registered the project. See how to find a DIR Project ID and the PWC-100.
3. Prepare the payroll once. The DIR eCPR FAQ covers how to report the hourly wage, deductions, contributions, and fringes in the DIR record. Then check in Elation what your contract asks for.
4. File the DIR eCPR yourself or through someone who prepares it for you. You review the record and sign it. After you sign, you cannot edit it, but you can submit an amended record for the same pay period.
5. Check that DIR has it. DIR's certified payroll reporting page links a public search where submitted records appear with personal details redacted.

Elation is one of several portals awarding bodies use. See GC and agency portals against the DIR filing and LCPtracker vs DIR for the same rule applied to others.

Where WellStanding fits

Entering the same payroll twice is where the hours go. Send the payroll export you already run. We prepare the WH-347 and file the DIR eCPR from it, a person reviews every filing, and you sign the certification. At setup we confirm where the project's other filings go, including a portal like Elation. First filing free.

Questions