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	LABOR BULLETIN 10/05/2005 TO: ALL CONTRACTOR MEMBERS SUBJECT: PREVAILING WAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNER OPERATOR TRUCKING Thomas W. Kovacich ESQ of the firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud and Romo has prepared the following “Alert” for your information: *ALERT* PREVAILING WAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR OWNER OPERATORS IN TRUCKING STILL ON HOLD- ______________________________________________________________________________ The Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”), the agency responsible for issuing coverage determinations relating to California prevailing wage requirements, has, once again, modified its position with respect to the payment of prevailing wages to owner operators in the trucking industry. Some background is required to understand the DIR’s indecision. The requirement of prevailing wages for trucking in general and owner operators specifically has been hotly contested. In his most recent pronouncement, dated August 23, 2005, John Rea, Acting Director of the DIR, rejected arguments made by many employers that only on-site trucking should be covered by prevailing wages. The arguments advanced were that California law should be consistent with the Federal Davis Bacon Act and that absent clear legislative guidance, the DIR should not find any hauling work to be covered. Rea felt this position was inconsistent with the DIR pronouncements over the last several decades. For example, on-haul trucking and intra-site hauling between public works projects has been covered for decades. In the Williams Street Widening, City of San Leandro decision, Rea did affirm that truck drivers engaged to haul materials from a public works site to a general use recycling facility were not required to be paid prevailing wages. The contractor in Williams Street Widening was required to grind off the existing roadway surface. A subcontractor used owner-operator truck drivers to haul the road grindings to an asphalt recycler. The recycler used the material as fill on roads around the recycler plant. The public agency’s specifications for the project provided that the grinding residue/excavated materials from the roadway were to become the property of the contractor. For this reason, the work was not considered covered. However, certain other types of off-haul trucking are covered. For example, the Labor Code expressly provides that the hauling of refuse off site requires the payment of prevailing wages. By DIR interpretation, the hauling of material between public works sites or to a location specified in the contract documents by the public agency requires payment of prevailing wages. The DIR is now even starting to issue wage determinations for non-construction trucking. The new wage determination is called “Driver On-Off Hauling to/from Construction Site” and is generally less than the Teamster rate. These wage determinations, issued primarily in Northern California, apply to trucking company employees and not, at least at this time, to owner operators. In his original decision, Rea determined that, although the work was not covered, he made a gratuitous statement that owner-operator truckers performing public work must be paid prevailing wages. In reconsidering that decision, he admitted that the owner-operator issue was not necessary to the original decision, since the work was not covered in the first place, and therefore withdrew his finding. Whether owner operators in trucking are covered by prevailing wages will be left for another day by the DIR or a Court. In the meantime, SCCA will continue to monitor the issue on behalf of its members. In addition for your information, there is included “Prevailing Wage Information for Trucking, Revised September 7, 2005” which is sent for your information with the generous permission of the Engineering and Utility Contractors Association in Northern California. If there are any questions, please contact the SCCA staff at (323) 726-3511.

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