Certified payroll requirements for Caltrans projects
What California public works subcontractors owe, and keep owing every payroll week, when the awarding body is California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). With live registration data from DIR project filings.
Data updated 2026-09-19
Recent Caltrans project registrations
New PWC-100 project registrations naming Caltrans as the awarding body, from DIR's public project registry. Every one of these projects means certified payroll for every contractor and sub on it, starting with the first week worked.
| Project | Registered | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| ELB - 07A6515 | 2026-09-18 | |
| SB Minor B - 03A4217 | 2026-09-18 | |
| SB Minor B Replace Existing MBGR W/ MGS | 2026-09-17 | The Westlake Slurry Seal Project will slurry seal approximately 13.9 miles of City streets in the Westlake are |
| ELB - 11A4452 | 2026-09-17 | |
| Traffic Loop Repair and/or Replacement | 2026-09-17 | |
| 04-SCl-85, 101, 880-Var | 2026-09-16 | |
| 04-Nap-121-6.9, 12.1 | 2026-09-16 | |
| ELB - 11A4449 | 2026-09-15 | Upgrade Drainage Ditch, Water, and Sewer Lines. |
The portal situation
Certified payroll on Caltrans work runs through LCPtracker on designated contracts, the Caltrans File Transfer portal on others.
Caltrans operates one of the four DIR-approved legacy Labor Compliance Programs, so its projects are generally exempt from the direct DIR eCPR filing. Certified payroll still runs through the system named in the Caltrans contract, and the federal WH-347 duty is untouched on federally assisted work.
What you still owe on these projects
The exemption changes where certified payroll goes, not whether it exists. The current exemption list is on DIR's eCPR exemptions page, and three duties survive it:
- Certified payroll still gets prepared and submitted through the channel this body names in the contract. The exemption moves the destination, not the work.
- On federally assisted projects the federal WH-347 with its Statement of Compliance is due every week under Davis-Bacon rules. The form and instructions live at the U.S. Department of Labor.
- Labor Code 1776 record duties apply on every California public works job: keep certified records and produce them within 10 days of a written request or face the $100 per worker per day penalty, enforceable by withholding from progress payments (Labor Code 1776).
If you also work projects for any body outside the four legacy programs, the direct DIR eCPR duty applies there in full. Most subs mix both kinds of work, which is exactly the mess we manage.
Working for a state agency
State agency projects put you in DIR's own back yard. Registration checks and certified payroll enforcement are routine, and unless the agency holds one of the four legacy Labor Compliance Programs the direct eCPR filing applies from the first week of work.
Trades recently listed on Caltrans work
- General engineering (A): 26 contractors
- General building (B): 8 contractors
- Electrical (C-10): 8 contractors
- Landscaping (C-27): 7 contractors
- Parking and highway improvement (C-32): 6 contractors
- Hazardous substance removal (HAZ): 5 contractors