Denver, Colorado Prevailing Wage Information
GENERAL INFORMATION
Prevailing wage determinations are made for the following categories: 1) building; 2) career services authority (CSA); 3) heavy; 4) highway; and 5) living wage.
View Current and Former Prevailing Wage Determinations
The City and County of Denver, Office of the City Auditor is the city department that oversees the prevailing wage regulations within Denver.
View Denver's Auditor
Calculation Of Prevailing Wage
The actual prevailing wage and benefit rates are set by the Career Service Authority Board (The Board) and are generally consistent with the U.S. DOL Davis-Bacon wage rates. The Board makes each respective wage determination every six months or as frequently as is considered necessary by the Board. The Living Wage is determined annually based on the US Department of Health and Human Services' Poverty Index for a family of four. This amount is divided by 2080 resulting in the correct prevailing wage.
THRESHOLD
Denver prevailing wage law declares that any contractor or subcontractor at any tier, performing construction, alteration, improvement, repair, maintenance, demolition, or janitorial work on any public building or public work costing $2,000 or more, must pay their employees working on those projects nothing less than the appropriate rate as determined by the Career Service Board for the various classifications of workers employed on those city projects by those contractors or subcontractors.
Work performed in these various classifications at Denver International Airport, Four Miles Park, South West YMCA, Denver Mountain Parks, and the Denver zoo to name a few locations is also subject to prevailing wage payment and reporting requirements.
TIMING & INCREASES
In Denver, the increase in prevailing wages depends on the trade. If the classification is prevailed, the increases are as often as the union gets the increases to the U.S. DOL. If it's a SUCO wage, it only increases when the feds conduct a survey. Colorado has averaged about ten years per survey.
The anniversary date of the contract is one year from the date the Mayor signs the contract. If you are a subcontractor, your anniversary date for wage changes is not your contract date, but the prime contractor's date.
On special projects, it is a year from the date the contract is signed by the binding parties. Projects going beyond the one year anniversary date require all contractors to pay the wages that are in effect on the anniversary date. The prevailing wage investigator provides the new wages to the prime contractor, who is responsible for notifying all subcontractors of wages in effect on the anniversary date. By ordinance, any wage increase occurring on that date cannot be passed on to the City.
OVERTIME
In Denver, the general rule is that employees must be paid time and one-half for all hours worked in excess of forty hours in a seven-day period, whether worked on or off city projects. However, this rule applies to all trades except for the Custodians and Window Washers. Overtime for Custodians and window washers kicks in after they have worked 7.5 hours per day.
Additionally, if overtime is worked on a city project, the overtime rate is based on the published PW rate, or the established hourly rate of pay (whichever is higher).
Cash in lieu of fringe is paid for each hour worked, but is not multiplied by the overtime rate of 1.5. If you combine the cash in lieu of fringe with the base rate and report this amount as the hourly rate of pay, you are required to calculate overtime on this established rate of hourly pay.
An employee who normally receives a higher rate per hour than the published PW rate must be paid their off city rate while working on a city project.
WORKING ON THE WEEKENDS
Denver prevailing wage law does not provide different wages per trade for employment on the weekends.
WORKING ON LEGAL HOLIDAYS
Denver's prevailing wage laws are very similar to Davis Bacon regulations. Holiday compensation is not required. However, there is one exception to this rule, which is that the paid holidays for electricians are: 1) New Year's Day; 2) Memorial Day; 3) Independence Day; 4) Labor Day; 5) Veteran's Day; 6) Thanksgiving Day; 7) Friday after Thanksgiving Day; 8) Christmas Day.
SHIFT DIFFERENTIALS
Generally Denver prevailing wage law does not provide different wages based on the shift worked by an employee (e.g., graveyard). However, the following trades are exceptions to this rule: 1) transit techs; 2) janitor; and 3) window washers in CSA wages.
FRINGE BENEFITS
Fringe benefits must be paid for all hours worked on the project and must be approved by the Auditor’s Office. Approval is valid for one year from the date of issue.
Prevailing wage schedule includes the amount for “rates” and “fringes”. This is the total amount you must pay the employee on an hourly basis. If your company offers fringe benefits, you must submit your fringe benefit to the Auditor’s Office for approval. If the stated fringe amount is $9.00 per hour and we approve the value of your fringe as $3 per hour, you would need to pay the difference of $6 per hour on the employee’s check.
The following are a list of documents that may be needed to approve your fringes:
Health & Welfare—provide a copy of the company policy regarding:
What portion does the company pay versus the employee
Copy of the plan (including name of the third party administrator)
Portion of the contribution paid by the company
Computing Fringes
To compute fringes, the Auditor’s Office will provide the company with a fringe Benefit Spreadsheet that must be completed by the staff. On the spreadsheet, the company needs to provide the following:
1) hire date of the employee
2) social security number
3) number of paid vacation/holiday hours
4) employee non-prevailing wage rate
5) premium the employer pays
The Auditor’s Office uses 2080 hours for annualized benefits and 173 hours for monthly benefits to calculate value of fringes.
For sick/vacation/holiday time to count as fringes, the company may not have a “use it or lose it” policy.
If the hours earned do not carry over to the next year, the company must pay for the hours not taken.
If an employee leaves employment of the company, he/she must be paid his accrued time earned regardless of the reason of separation.
If the employee must work the day before or after a holiday in order to qualify for holiday pay that does not qualify as a benefit.
TRAINING CONTRIBUTION
Under Denver prevailing wage ordinance, employees working on public works projects do not receive any training contribution.
APPRENTICESHIP REQUIRMENTS
If an employee is listed as an apprentice, you must include his or her craft and appropriate percent on the payroll (e.g., operating engineer, Group 3, 80%). Apprentices are permitted only if they are employed pursuant to, and individually enrolled in a bone fide apprenticeship program registered with the U.S. Department of Labor. The employer and the individual apprentice must be registered in a program, which has received prior approval by the U.S. DOL. Additionally, the apprentice must complete a current BAT registration form.
Any employer that is found to be in violation of this provision is required to pay that apprentice the full journeyman scale. Contractors may not use more than a 1 to 1 ratio of the journeyman to apprentice.
If the apprentice classification is missing from your LPC project, contact your investigator and ask them to add the classification to the project.
Apprentice wages are assigned on an as-needed per project basis.
For more information, or to speak to someone about Registered Apprenticeship, please call the Delaware Department of Labor at (302) 451-3423. Please see the "Helpful Links" section for appropriate forms and other helpful resources.
TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE
Under Denver prevailing wage law, employees do not receive compensation for travel or subsistence.
CONTRACTOR LICENSING
Contractors are required to obtain licenses under state law regulations, however, Denver prevailing wage law does not require contractors to obtain licenses.
PENALTIES
Any contractor or subcontractor that is subject to Denver's prevailing wage law must pay a penalty to the City and County of Denver in the amount discussed below for each week, or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the applicable prevailing wage rates.
The amount of the penalty is determined by the auditor based on consideration of both of the following:
FIRST OFFENSE: The penalty is $20 each week or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the prevailing wage rate (exception--failure of the contractor/subcontractor to pay the correct rate of prevailing wages was a GF mistake and, if so, the error was corrected w/in 30 days of the date brought to the attention of the contractor/subcontractor).
SECOND OFFENSE: The penalty is $35 for each week or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the prevailing wage rate, if the contractor/subcontractor has been accessed a penalty, but not more than two other penalties, within the previous 3 years for failing to meet its prevailing wage obligations on a separate contract, unless those penalties were subsequently withdrawn or overturned.
THIRD OFFENSE: The penalty should be $50 for each week, or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the prevailing wage rate, if the contractor or subcontractor has been accessed three or more other penalties within the previous three years for failing to meet its prevailing wage obligations on separate contracts, unless those penalties were subsequently withdrawn or overturned.
The full section of this ordinance may be found at D.R.M.C. 20-76(e). Penalties will be paid to the City of Denver. Unpaid wages will still be paid to the worker in addition to these fines. Moreover, continual violations of Denver prevailing wage may subject the contractor(s) to debarment from city contracting because of violations of law under D.R.M.C. 20-77.
DEBARMENT
The Board may debar a contractor from consideration for any contract upon the affirmative vote of at least three members of the board for a period of up to 3 years.
HELPFUL LINKS
Denver's Prevailing Wage Website
Denver's Prevailing Wage Ordinance
Denver's Current Prevailing Wage Determinations
Denver's Debarment Ordinance
Denver's Living Wage Ordinance
Denver's E-verify Ordinance
CONTACT INFORMATION
Rob Merritt
Denver Office of Auditor
Prevailing Wage Supervisor
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (720) 913-5036
Complete list of employees in Prevailing Wage Division
Prevailing wage determinations are made for the following categories: 1) building; 2) career services authority (CSA); 3) heavy; 4) highway; and 5) living wage.
View Current and Former Prevailing Wage Determinations
The City and County of Denver, Office of the City Auditor is the city department that oversees the prevailing wage regulations within Denver.
View Denver's Auditor
Calculation Of Prevailing Wage
The actual prevailing wage and benefit rates are set by the Career Service Authority Board (The Board) and are generally consistent with the U.S. DOL Davis-Bacon wage rates. The Board makes each respective wage determination every six months or as frequently as is considered necessary by the Board. The Living Wage is determined annually based on the US Department of Health and Human Services' Poverty Index for a family of four. This amount is divided by 2080 resulting in the correct prevailing wage.
THRESHOLD
Denver prevailing wage law declares that any contractor or subcontractor at any tier, performing construction, alteration, improvement, repair, maintenance, demolition, or janitorial work on any public building or public work costing $2,000 or more, must pay their employees working on those projects nothing less than the appropriate rate as determined by the Career Service Board for the various classifications of workers employed on those city projects by those contractors or subcontractors.
Work performed in these various classifications at Denver International Airport, Four Miles Park, South West YMCA, Denver Mountain Parks, and the Denver zoo to name a few locations is also subject to prevailing wage payment and reporting requirements.
TIMING & INCREASES
In Denver, the increase in prevailing wages depends on the trade. If the classification is prevailed, the increases are as often as the union gets the increases to the U.S. DOL. If it's a SUCO wage, it only increases when the feds conduct a survey. Colorado has averaged about ten years per survey.
The anniversary date of the contract is one year from the date the Mayor signs the contract. If you are a subcontractor, your anniversary date for wage changes is not your contract date, but the prime contractor's date.
On special projects, it is a year from the date the contract is signed by the binding parties. Projects going beyond the one year anniversary date require all contractors to pay the wages that are in effect on the anniversary date. The prevailing wage investigator provides the new wages to the prime contractor, who is responsible for notifying all subcontractors of wages in effect on the anniversary date. By ordinance, any wage increase occurring on that date cannot be passed on to the City.
OVERTIME
In Denver, the general rule is that employees must be paid time and one-half for all hours worked in excess of forty hours in a seven-day period, whether worked on or off city projects. However, this rule applies to all trades except for the Custodians and Window Washers. Overtime for Custodians and window washers kicks in after they have worked 7.5 hours per day.
Additionally, if overtime is worked on a city project, the overtime rate is based on the published PW rate, or the established hourly rate of pay (whichever is higher).
Cash in lieu of fringe is paid for each hour worked, but is not multiplied by the overtime rate of 1.5. If you combine the cash in lieu of fringe with the base rate and report this amount as the hourly rate of pay, you are required to calculate overtime on this established rate of hourly pay.
An employee who normally receives a higher rate per hour than the published PW rate must be paid their off city rate while working on a city project.
WORKING ON THE WEEKENDS
Denver prevailing wage law does not provide different wages per trade for employment on the weekends.
WORKING ON LEGAL HOLIDAYS
Denver's prevailing wage laws are very similar to Davis Bacon regulations. Holiday compensation is not required. However, there is one exception to this rule, which is that the paid holidays for electricians are: 1) New Year's Day; 2) Memorial Day; 3) Independence Day; 4) Labor Day; 5) Veteran's Day; 6) Thanksgiving Day; 7) Friday after Thanksgiving Day; 8) Christmas Day.
SHIFT DIFFERENTIALS
Generally Denver prevailing wage law does not provide different wages based on the shift worked by an employee (e.g., graveyard). However, the following trades are exceptions to this rule: 1) transit techs; 2) janitor; and 3) window washers in CSA wages.
FRINGE BENEFITS
Fringe benefits must be paid for all hours worked on the project and must be approved by the Auditor’s Office. Approval is valid for one year from the date of issue.
Prevailing wage schedule includes the amount for “rates” and “fringes”. This is the total amount you must pay the employee on an hourly basis. If your company offers fringe benefits, you must submit your fringe benefit to the Auditor’s Office for approval. If the stated fringe amount is $9.00 per hour and we approve the value of your fringe as $3 per hour, you would need to pay the difference of $6 per hour on the employee’s check.
The following are a list of documents that may be needed to approve your fringes:
Health & Welfare—provide a copy of the company policy regarding:
- Medical plan
What portion does the company pay versus the employee
- Dental (same as above)
- Life insurance (same as above)
- Long or short-term disability (same as above)
- Pension plans
Copy of the plan (including name of the third party administrator)
Portion of the contribution paid by the company
- Vacation—copy of company policy
- Holiday—copy of company policy
- Sick pay—copy of company policy
Computing Fringes
To compute fringes, the Auditor’s Office will provide the company with a fringe Benefit Spreadsheet that must be completed by the staff. On the spreadsheet, the company needs to provide the following:
1) hire date of the employee
2) social security number
3) number of paid vacation/holiday hours
4) employee non-prevailing wage rate
5) premium the employer pays
The Auditor’s Office uses 2080 hours for annualized benefits and 173 hours for monthly benefits to calculate value of fringes.
- Sick/vacation/holiday time to count as fringes
For sick/vacation/holiday time to count as fringes, the company may not have a “use it or lose it” policy.
If the hours earned do not carry over to the next year, the company must pay for the hours not taken.
If an employee leaves employment of the company, he/she must be paid his accrued time earned regardless of the reason of separation.
If the employee must work the day before or after a holiday in order to qualify for holiday pay that does not qualify as a benefit.
- Pensions, 401(k), simple IRAs to count as fringes
TRAINING CONTRIBUTION
Under Denver prevailing wage ordinance, employees working on public works projects do not receive any training contribution.
APPRENTICESHIP REQUIRMENTS
If an employee is listed as an apprentice, you must include his or her craft and appropriate percent on the payroll (e.g., operating engineer, Group 3, 80%). Apprentices are permitted only if they are employed pursuant to, and individually enrolled in a bone fide apprenticeship program registered with the U.S. Department of Labor. The employer and the individual apprentice must be registered in a program, which has received prior approval by the U.S. DOL. Additionally, the apprentice must complete a current BAT registration form.
Any employer that is found to be in violation of this provision is required to pay that apprentice the full journeyman scale. Contractors may not use more than a 1 to 1 ratio of the journeyman to apprentice.
If the apprentice classification is missing from your LPC project, contact your investigator and ask them to add the classification to the project.
Apprentice wages are assigned on an as-needed per project basis.
For more information, or to speak to someone about Registered Apprenticeship, please call the Delaware Department of Labor at (302) 451-3423. Please see the "Helpful Links" section for appropriate forms and other helpful resources.
TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE
Under Denver prevailing wage law, employees do not receive compensation for travel or subsistence.
CONTRACTOR LICENSING
Contractors are required to obtain licenses under state law regulations, however, Denver prevailing wage law does not require contractors to obtain licenses.
PENALTIES
Any contractor or subcontractor that is subject to Denver's prevailing wage law must pay a penalty to the City and County of Denver in the amount discussed below for each week, or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the applicable prevailing wage rates.
The amount of the penalty is determined by the auditor based on consideration of both of the following:
- Whether the failure of the contractor or subcontractor to pay the correct wage rate was a good faith mistake, and, if so, the error was corrected within 30 days of the date brought to attention of the contractor/subcontractor
- Whether the contractor/subcontractor has a prior record of failing to meet its PW obligation
FIRST OFFENSE: The penalty is $20 each week or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the prevailing wage rate (exception--failure of the contractor/subcontractor to pay the correct rate of prevailing wages was a GF mistake and, if so, the error was corrected w/in 30 days of the date brought to the attention of the contractor/subcontractor).
SECOND OFFENSE: The penalty is $35 for each week or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the prevailing wage rate, if the contractor/subcontractor has been accessed a penalty, but not more than two other penalties, within the previous 3 years for failing to meet its prevailing wage obligations on a separate contract, unless those penalties were subsequently withdrawn or overturned.
THIRD OFFENSE: The penalty should be $50 for each week, or portion thereof, for each worker paid less than the prevailing wage rate, if the contractor or subcontractor has been accessed three or more other penalties within the previous three years for failing to meet its prevailing wage obligations on separate contracts, unless those penalties were subsequently withdrawn or overturned.
The full section of this ordinance may be found at D.R.M.C. 20-76(e). Penalties will be paid to the City of Denver. Unpaid wages will still be paid to the worker in addition to these fines. Moreover, continual violations of Denver prevailing wage may subject the contractor(s) to debarment from city contracting because of violations of law under D.R.M.C. 20-77.
DEBARMENT
The Board may debar a contractor from consideration for any contract upon the affirmative vote of at least three members of the board for a period of up to 3 years.
HELPFUL LINKS
Denver's Prevailing Wage Website
Denver's Prevailing Wage Ordinance
Denver's Current Prevailing Wage Determinations
Denver's Debarment Ordinance
Denver's Living Wage Ordinance
Denver's E-verify Ordinance
CONTACT INFORMATION
Rob Merritt
Denver Office of Auditor
Prevailing Wage Supervisor
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (720) 913-5036
Complete list of employees in Prevailing Wage Division
