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California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) requires that workers on public works projects be paid at least the prevailing wage for their labor classification — a rate that varies by craft, region (NorCal, SoCal, San Diego), and the DIR determination in effect when the project contract was awarded. FieldTime integrates this obligation directly into the time-tracking workflow: every time entry on a prevailing wage project is audited against DIR rules and surfaced as a compliance finding before the timesheet is submitted. This eliminates the risk of certified payroll errors by catching rate and premium issues at the source, before they reach payroll processing.

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Prevailing Wage Determinations

A Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) is the record that links a specific project in FieldTime to a DIR wage determination. It contains the DIR determination sequence number, the applicable WBS1 code, the labor classification, and a budget description. FieldTime syncs PWD records from Deltek Vantagepoint automatically during scheduled sync runs. When a project has one or more PWD records attached, FieldTime treats it as a prevailing wage project and activates the full DIR audit for all time entries on that project.
Prevailing wage determinations are synced automatically from Vantagepoint during scheduled VP Sync runs. If a project’s prevailing wage determination has changed or a new determination has been added in Vantagepoint, trigger a Sync Now from the Project Assignments page to pull the latest data into FieldTime before running the next timesheet audit. You can also use the project-scoped sync action on the Assignments detail page to sync a single project without affecting others.

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Labor classifications

FieldTime tracks labor classifications at the time entry segment level. When an employee works on a prevailing wage project, each segment of their shift can be assigned a classification code such as:
  • LCI — Land/Construction Inspector (Journeyman)
  • CI — Construction Inspector
  • MT — Field Soils & Material Tester (Journeyman)
These codes determine which DIR wage rate applies to each hour of work. Classification segments are recorded chronologically within a single time entry, so if an employee switches classifications mid-shift, each segment’s hours and times are tracked separately for accurate certified payroll reporting.

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How classification codes map to DIR rates

FieldTime uses the classification code on each segment to:
  1. Identify whether the entry qualifies for prevailing wage audit (LCI, CI, and MT codes are recognized as prevailing wage classifications).
  2. Look up the applicable DIR determination for the project’s RFP date and region.
  3. Apply the correct weekend, holiday, and shift-differential multipliers for the region.
  4. Generate PREVAILING_WAGE findings that prompt payroll to verify the base rate in the current DIR wage determination document.

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How FieldTime flags prevailing wage entries

Every time a compliance audit runs for a week that includes time on a prevailing wage project, FieldTime processes each PW-classified entry through the prevailing wage audit engine. The engine determines:
  • Shift attribution day — In NorCal, a shift that starts between 12:00 AM and 12:59 AM Pacific is attributed to the prior calendar day (the DIR 1:00 AM boundary rule). In SoCal and San Diego, the shift is always attributed to the clock-in calendar day.
  • DIR shift type — Whether the shift qualifies as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shift under DIR rules for the project’s region.
  • Weekend and holiday premiums — Whether Saturday, Sunday, or a DIR-recognized holiday premium applies.
  • Night shift differential — In NorCal, shifts starting after 2:00 PM or before 4:00 AM qualify for a 12.5% night differential.
Findings are additive to California §510 overtime findings. FieldTime computes both and surfaces them independently so that payroll applies the “higher of” rate — whichever of the §510 rate or the DIR premium yields more compensation for the employee.

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DIR finding types

Rule CodeCategorySeverityWhen generated
PW_RATE_APPENDIXPREVAILING_WAGENOTICEEvery PW entry — prompts payroll to verify the base rate against the current DIR wage determination
PW_SATURDAY_PREMIUMPREVAILING_WAGEERRORPW hours worked on a Saturday
PW_SUNDAY_PREMIUMPREVAILING_WAGEERRORPW hours worked on a Sunday
PW_HOLIDAY_PREMIUMPREVAILING_WAGEERRORPW hours worked on a DIR-recognized holiday (2× rate)
PW_NIGHT_DIFFERENTIALPREVAILING_WAGENOTICENorCal shifts starting after 2:00 PM or before 4:00 AM (12.5% differential)
PW_SHIFT_OVERRIDEPREVAILING_WAGENOTICEDIR shift determination differs from the default §510 shift assignment
PW_ZONE_PAYPREVAILING_WAGENOTICESan Diego projects only — reminds payroll to confirm whether zone pay applies

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Saturday and Sunday premiums by region

RegionSaturdaySunday
NorCalFirst 8 hrs at 1.5×; over 8 hrs at 2×All hours at 2×
SoCalAll hours at 1.5×All hours at 2×
San DiegoAll hours at 1.5×All hours at 2×
Holiday premiums apply at 2× all hours in every region. If a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday rate takes precedence over the weekend rate.

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Admin setup: attaching a PWD to a project

Before FieldTime can audit prevailing wage compliance on a project, a prevailing wage determination must be linked to that project. Follow these steps to set one up.
1

Sync from Vantagepoint

If the project exists in Deltek Vantagepoint and already has prevailing wage budget lines, run a VP Sync from Admin → Vantagepoint Sync → Sync Now (or use the project-scoped sync on the Assignments detail page). FieldTime automatically creates prevailing wage determination records for any Vantagepoint WBS lines that contain prevailing wage labor classification data.
2

Verify the sync result

Navigate to Admin → Projects and open the project. Under the Prevailing Wage tab, confirm that the expected DIR determination period code, WBS1, and labor classification are present.
3

Set the project region

Ensure the project’s Region field is set to NORCAL, SOCAL, or SD. FieldTime uses the region to apply the correct weekend premiums, holiday calendar, and shift-attribution rules. Region is synced from Vantagepoint organization data but can be overridden manually if needed.
4

Run a test audit

Open a timesheet for an employee assigned to the project and click Run Audit in the Compliance panel. Confirm that PW_RATE_APPENDIX NOTICE findings appear for any PW-classified entries, and that weekend or holiday findings appear on the correct dates.
Projects with no prevailing wage determination attached are treated as non-prevailing-wage projects. The prevailing wage audit engine is only invoked for entries that have at least one time segment with a PW classification code (LCI, CI, or MT). Entries on prevailing wage projects that are coded to a non-PW classification are not subject to DIR premium auditing.

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Prevailing wage reports

After the audit runs, you can review all prevailing wage findings across your workforce using the Prevailing Wage report category in the Reports section. The Prevailing Wage by Project report shows hours by project, classification, and DIR determination period. The DIR Determination Reference report lists every active direct project alongside its applicable DIR determination effective and expiration dates. See Reports Overview for details.