Public works: prevailing wages: contractor's costs.

Existing law generally requires the payment of not less than the prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work, as defined, is performed, and not less than the prevailing rate for holiday and overtime work, to workers employed on public works projects of greater than $1,000. Existing law requires an awarding body, as defined, to obtain the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, as determined by the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes a contractor to bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover from an awarding body specified labor costs, penalties, and legal fees if either the awarding body previously affirmatively represented to the contractor that the work to be covered by the bid or contract was not a "public work" or the awarding body received actual written notice from the Department of Industrial Relations that the work to be covered by the bid or contract is a "public work" and failed to disclose that information to the contractor. Existing law also authorizes a contractor to bring an action to recover from the body awarding a contract for a public work, or otherwise undertaking any public work, any increased costs incurred by the contractor as a result of a decision of the awarding body, the Department of Industrial Relations, or a court that classifies the work as a "public work," if that body, before the bid opening or awarding of the contract, failed to identify as a "public work" in the bid specification or in the contract documents that portion of the work that the decision classifies as a "public work." This bill would authorize a contractor, as defined, to bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to recover from the hiring party, as defined, that the contractor directly contracts with, any increased costs, including labor costs, penalties, and legal fees incurred as a result of any decision by the Department of Industrial Relations, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, or a court that classifies, after the time at which the hiring party accepts the contractor's bid, awards the contractor a contract when no bid is solicited, or otherwise allows construction to proceed, the work covered by the project, or any portion thereof, as a public work, except under the circumstances specified.