Davis-Bacon Act Basics

The Davis-Bacon Act is a 1931 federal law that sets a wage floor for laborers and mechanics on construction work paid for by the federal government. It does not set one national rate. Instead it requires that workers on a covered project be paid at least the prevailing wage for their classification in the locality where the work is done, as determined by the Secretary of Labor. The Act itself is at 40 U.S.C. 3141 to 3148; the Department of Labor’s rules for applying it are in 29 CFR part 5, and the rules for how wage rates are determined are in 29 CFR part 1.

What is covered

The Act applies to contracts over $2,000 to which the federal government or the District of Columbia is a party, for the construction, alteration or repair of public buildings or public works, including painting and decorating. About sixty other statutes, called the Davis-Bacon Related Acts, extend the same labor standards to construction that the federal government assists through grants, loans, loan guarantees and insurance, such as federally aided highways, housing and water projects. Whether a particular project is covered depends on the funding statute and the contract, which is a question for the contracting agency and the Department of Labor, not something this site can determine.

Coverage reaches laborers and mechanics employed by the contractor or any subcontractor on the site of the work. It does not reach workers whose duties are primarily administrative, executive or clerical, and the rules in 29 CFR 5.2 define the terms, including what counts as the site of the work.

How the floor is set

The Wage and Hour Division surveys wages paid on construction projects in an area, by type of construction (building, residential, heavy, highway) and by classification (electrician, carpenter, laborer and so on), and publishes a wage determination for each county or group of counties. A wage determination lists, for each classification, a basic hourly rate and a fringe benefit amount. Under 29 CFR 5.5 the contractor must pay at least the sum of the two, either as cash wages, as contributions to bona fide fringe benefit plans, or as a combination. Rates come from the data a survey collected and are updated when a new survey or a collective bargaining agreement changes them; 29 CFR 1.6 explains when a determination takes effect and how modifications are applied to a contract.

General wage determinations are published on SAM.gov, the federal government’s System for Award Management; this site explains how to look one up and does not mirror them, because they change continuously and have no documented bulk download.

What the contractor must do

The regulations at 29 CFR 5.5 require the contract clauses to be included in every covered contract. The main obligations are to pay covered workers weekly, at no less than the applicable rate for the work they actually perform; to post the wage determination and a Department of Labor poster at the site; to keep payroll records and submit certified weekly payrolls to the contracting agency; and to pay overtime at one and one-half times the basic rate for hours over 40 in a week under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act. Apprentices and trainees may be paid less than the journeyman rate only when they are enrolled in a program registered with the Department of Labor or a recognized state agency, within the ratios that program allows.

A contractor that cannot find a needed classification on the wage determination asks the contracting agency for a conformance, a procedure in 29 CFR 5.5(a)(1)(iii) under which the Department of Labor approves an added classification and rate that bears a reasonable relationship to the rates already listed.

How it differs from the minimum wage

The federal minimum wage and state minimum wages apply to covered employment generally; a Davis-Bacon rate applies only on a covered project and only for the hours worked on it. Prevailing rates for skilled trades are usually far above the minimum wage, and they vary by county and type of construction. Where state law also sets a prevailing wage for state-funded construction (many states have a “little Davis-Bacon” statute), the project may be subject to both, and the higher applicable rate must be paid. The occupation pages on this site show what the same trades are paid across all employers in a state, from BLS survey data; that is a different measure from a wage determination and should not be used in its place.

Enforcement

The contracting agency and the Wage and Hour Division enforce the Act. Remedies include withholding contract payments to cover back wages, contract termination, and debarment from federal contracts for up to three years for willful or aggravated violations (29 CFR 5.12). The Department of Labor’s Davis-Bacon page lists the current forms, posters and field guidance.