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California public works · DIR eCPR · Labor Code 1776

Every exception,
in writing,
before signature.

California publishes what prevailing wage errors cost — 85 of those Labor Commissioner decisions sit on this desk, and the defects behind them do not show up on a payroll register. Sedona reconciles each weekly record against the DIR determination that governs the contract, so the record is right before your officer certifies it under Labor Code 1776 and it goes up through eCPR.

Start the free back-audit$750 a month, flat

The back-audit is free — up to four certified payroll records you have already filed. Ongoing work is $750 a month, published, the same number in every email. The first step is a short note: no files, no worker information.

The button opens your mail app addressed to intake@sedonapayroll.com. If nothing opens, that address is the whole of it — write from any account.

Pre-filing exception logSpecimen
Week ending
Fri 05/10 · Job 22-1847
Determination
DIR county schedule · with predetermined increase
Lines reviewed
12 workers · 4 crafts
Exceptions raised
3 — sent before the record was certified
Certified & uploaded by
Your officer. Not us.

Everything flagged reaches you in writing before the filing goes in. Nothing is quietly corrected, and nothing is quietly let through.

The public record

California publishes what these errors cost. We have read 85 of the decisions.

When the Labor Commissioner assesses a contractor on prevailing wage, the outcome becomes a public record — case number, company, project, the specific finding, and the dollars. Anyone can read them; the state publishes them, not us. Sedona holds 85. They describe California contractors who ran payroll, filed their records, and were assessed anyway.

The defect does not appear on your register

Every one of those assessments began with something the company's own paperwork looked fine about. A register shows what you paid. It cannot show that the craft you entered is not the craft the determination governs — so a correct-looking payroll is not evidence of a compliant one.

The same few errors, over and over

The decisions turn on a small set of failures: a classification that is not on the governing determination, a fringe credit taken against the wrong hours, apprentice hours beyond what the ratio supports. Those are the three worked below — not chosen for illustration, chosen because they are what the record keeps showing.

You can check all of it yourself

These are state publications, freely available. Nothing here rests on our summary of them — read the Labor Commissioner's public-works material and the determinations directly, and judge whether the pattern we describe is the one you find.

No company from those decisions is named, quoted or identified on this page, and none ever will be. Sedona is a private firm with no connection to the DIR, the Labor Commissioner or any enforcement body. We hold no authority, monitor no one and report no one — we read public records, exactly as you can: Labor Commissioner, public works and DIR public works.

§ 01 — Demonstration

Three errors that a payroll register cannot show you

Your payroll runs. Everyone got paid. The math is internally consistent. None of that is what the Labor Commissioner or the awarding body checks — they check your lines against the DIR prevailing wage determination that governs this contract, in this county. These are three of the error classes that check exists to catch, and all three are invisible on a normal register. They are also the three the published decisions keep turning on.

  1. Finding 01

    A job title chosen to pay a lower rate, not because the work isn't listed

    The register lists a job title the company uses every day. The DIR determination for that county already covers this work — under a different craft, at a higher rate. Splitting the same duties across a lower-paid title doesn't create a gap in the schedule; it evades a rate that's already listed. The worker is still paid every week regardless — what's owed is the difference, computed from the first day worked in that classification, not the week someone catches it.

    Weekly register fragment · week ending 05/10 · page 2 of 4Specimen — not a client record

    Scroll this table sideways — the last column is the base rate as entered.

    NameClass as enteredHoursBase rate
    MARTINEZ, J.Laborer, Group 140.031.15
    FlagFlagged line. SANCHEZ, R.Skilled laborer38.526.40
    OKAFOR, D.Cement Mason40.038.02

    Exception“Skilled laborer” is not a craft on the governing determination — the DIR schedule for this county lists Laborer Groups 1–4 and Cement Mason, and the duties performed fall inside one of them under that determination's scope-of-work provisions. Labor Code 1774 requires payment of not less than the determined rate for the classification of work actually performed, and Labor Code 1775 attaches the difference plus a per-day penalty. The fix is reclassification and back pay: mapped to the correct Laborer Group and recomputed from the first week, before the record is certified.

  2. Finding 02

    An employer-payment credit taken against the wrong hours

    Employer payments — health and welfare, pension, vacation, training — are credited per hour, and the divisor is the whole of the hours the contribution actually buys, not just the public-works hours. Getting it backwards inflates the hourly credit, which quietly lets the cash wage run short — computed as back pay from the first week it happened, not the week someone notices.

    Employer-payment reconciliation · one craft · constructed figuresSpecimen — not a client record

    Scroll this table sideways — the last column is the cash shortfall per hour.

    ComponentAs reportedAnnualizedCash shortfall /hr
    Base rate34.8534.850.00
    Health & welfare6.106.100.00
    FlagFlagged line. Pension credit1.331.000.33
    Reported total42.2841.950.33

    ExceptionThe pension contribution was divided over public-works hours only (1,500) instead of all hours the contribution covers, public and private combined (2,000). Labor Code 1773.1 limits the credit to the contractor's actual annualized cost and bars a credit that lowers the straight-time hourly wage below the determination; 29 CFR 5.25(c) states the same method on federally assisted work. The narrower divisor inflates the credit from $1.00 to $1.33/hr, which lets $0.33/hr of required cash wages go unpaid. Back wages run from the first week on the contract. Recomputed and shown to you before the record is certified.

  3. Finding 03

    More apprentice hours on site than the ratio allows

    The apprentices are real, registered and paid at their proper step. There are simply more apprentice hours on that day than the 1:5 ratio permits against the journeyworker hours actually worked. Every excess hour is owed at the full journeyworker rate — and the same statute carries its own penalty, separate from the wage difference.

    Ratio test · single craft · WednesdaySpecimen — not a client record

    Scroll this table sideways — the last column is the ratio result.

    On siteCountHoursRatio test
    Journeyworkers648.01 : 5 hours
    FlagFlagged line. Apprentices324.0permits 9.6
    Excess apprentice hours—14.4owed at journey rate

    ExceptionLabor Code 1777.5 sets an apprentice-to-journeyworker ratio of not less than one hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyworker work, and requires DAS-140 contract award notice and DAS-142 request for dispatch. Apprentice hours beyond what the journeyworker hours support are reportable at the full journeyworker rate, and Labor Code 1777.7 attaches its own penalty and possible debarment. Flagged with the day, the craft and the corrected lines attached.

§ 02 — Consequence

Certified payroll errors are not filing-cabinet problems. They stop money.

Payment withheld

The awarding body holds contract payments

Payroll records that are late or inadequate after a request are grounds to withhold contract payments (Labor Code 1771.4(b)(4)), and an awarding body must withhold amounts covered by a Civil Wage and Penalty Assessment (Labor Code 1727). A record problem holds up a progress payment on a job that is staffed, running and burning cash.

Per-day penalties

$40 to $200 per day, per worker

Labor Code 1775 attaches a penalty for each calendar day, or part of one, that each worker was paid below the determination — on top of the wage difference itself. It is counted per worker per day, so a classification error that ran quietly for a month is not one penalty.

Records penalty

$100 a day for records not produced

Certified payroll records must be kept and certified under Labor Code 1776, and produced on request. Failure to comply within 10 days carries $100 per day per worker until the records are provided — a penalty for the paperwork alone, independent of whether anyone was underpaid.

60-day clock

An assessment you don't contest becomes final

A Civil Wage and Penalty Assessment starts a 60-day clock: request review under Labor Code 1742 within it, or the assessment is final and not subject to review by any court or agency. The window closes on companies that are still gathering their payroll records.

Prime liability

You answer for a sub's filing you never read

Labor Code 1775(b) makes the prime liable for a subcontractor's underpayment. The awarding body does not withhold from the sub. Their classification error becomes your cash-flow problem.

Debarment

Off public work entirely

Labor Code 1777.1 provides for debarment from bidding on or performing public work for willful violations, and Labor Code 1777.7 carries its own apprenticeship debarment. For a contractor whose book is public work, that is not a penalty on the business. That is the business.

Your officer certifies the record under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California — and, where the job is federally assisted, signs a Statement of Compliance under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 as well. That is the reason this work deserves a reconciliation independent of the person who ran the payroll.

§ 03 — The difference

A register can be internally consistent and still wrong.

Payroll output tells you what was paid. It cannot tell you what the DIR determination required — that answer lives outside the register, in the county schedule, its scope-of-work provisions and its predetermined increases. Closing that gap, in writing, before the record is certified: that is the whole of the desk.

What the reconciliation adds

  • Each line is read against the actual DIR determination in force for that county and craft, including any predetermined increase that has taken effect.
  • Classifications are matched line by line to the determination's scope-of-work provisions, not to the job title your register happens to use.
  • Employer-payment credits are recomputed, not accepted — annualized over the hours the contribution actually covers.
  • Apprentice hours are tested against the 1:5 ratio, with DAS-140 and DAS-142 accounted for.
  • Anything unresolved reaches you in writing, before the record is certified.

Sedona is not a platform reseller and does not ask you to move payroll systems. The desk works from whatever your register already produces, and the filing still goes up through eCPR — or the labor-compliance program portal your awarding body mandates — under your own credentials.

§ 04 — The work

Each week covered work is performed

  1. Monday

    The determination gets pinned

    Before any hours are read: the governing DIR determination — or determinations, on a multi-craft contract — its issue date, and any predetermined increase effective for the week. Everything downstream is checked against exactly what governs, nothing assumed.

  2. Tuesday

    Lines are reconciled

    Each worker, craft, hours by day, base rate and employer payments, matched to the county schedule for that craft. Apprentice hours tested against the 1:5 ratio, with the DAS-140 and DAS-142 record checked alongside.

  3. Wednesday

    The exception log goes to you

    In writing, with the line, the reason, the governing citation and the corrected figure where there is one. If there is nothing to raise, you get a log that says so.

  4. Thursday

    You decide, then you certify and file

    Corrections are yours to accept or reject. Your officer certifies the record under Labor Code 1776 and uploads it — through DIR eCPR, or the labor-compliance program portal the awarding body mandates.

§ 05 — Boundaries

What we will not do, and why we say so first

You have been sold compliance before. The fastest way to tell whether a vendor understands this work is whether they can state, without being asked, where their responsibility ends. Ours ends at the certification — because it is sworn by whoever paid or supervised paying the workers, and that is never us.

What we do commit to is narrower and checkable: the record is reconciled against the governing determination, and anything we cannot resolve reaches you in writing before the filing goes in. Not after it bounces.

  • We do not certify the payroll record

    The Labor Code 1776 certification is your officer's — or, on a federally assisted job, your officer's or an agent who pays or supervises payment. Sedona does neither, so the certification isn't ours to take. Your authorized signer reviews, certifies and files under your own procedures.

  • We do not submit on your behalf

    Filings go into eCPR, or your awarding body's portal, under your credentials, by your people. We prepare and reconcile the record that goes into them.

  • We are not a CPA firm, a law firm, or an auditor

    No opinion, no attestation, no legal advice. If a question needs counsel, we say so and stop.

  • We do not guarantee an outcome

    No promise of acceptance, no refund pledge, no seal. Nothing about this work can honestly underwrite one, and the Labor Commissioner is not bound by anyone's guarantee.

  • We do not replace your payroll system

    We read what it already produces. Nothing to install, nothing to migrate, no per-seat license.

  • We work California public works only

    This desk serves California prevailing-wage jobs. It is not set up for other states, and it will say so rather than take work it should not.

§ 06 — Money

$750 a month, flat. The back-audit before it is free.

One number, published here, and the same number in every email this desk sends. No tiers, no per-worker meter, no annual term, no negotiation — including no discount for asking. If you were quoted $750 in an email, this page is where you check that it was the real number.

The whole rate card

Back-audit
Free — up to four certified payroll records you have already filed
Ongoing
$750 a month, flat
Setup fee
None
Term
None — month to month
Exit fee
None
  1. 01

    The back-audit is free and stays free

    It is not a trial that converts, and there is no obligation attached to it. You see the finding sheet before any money exists.

  2. 02

    The monthly rate does not move with your headcount

    A flat rate means a week with more exceptions costs you the same as a quiet one — which is the only way the desk can raise an exception without a reason to keep quiet about it.

  3. 03

    It is stated before anything starts

    Scope and number in writing before any work begins. Nothing starts on a verbal yes, and nothing on this page is a quote you have to ask for.

  4. 04

    What the price does not buy is a guarantee

    No promise of acceptance, no refund pledge, no seal. A published number is a commitment about cost, not about outcome, and this desk does not make the second kind.

§ 07 — The honest part

Sedona has no clients yet. There are no logos to show you.

This is a new desk run by one person, Ramiro Montes, who holds no compliance credential and is not a CPA. There is no client list, no case study, no rating and no count of filings, because there is nothing true to put there. On a page about a document certified under penalty of perjury, the alternative to saying that plainly is inventing it. So judge the work instead of the résumé — four things are available to you right now, and none require taking anyone's word.

01

Check the reasoning against the law itself

Every rule this page relies on is public and free — the eCPR and withholding duties at Labor Code 1771.4, records and certification at 1776, penalties at 1775, the review clock at 1742, apprenticeship at 1777.5, and the DIR determination for your own county. Read the citation and see whether we described it correctly.

02

Audition the work on your own paperwork, free

The back-audit is the whole trust mechanism. Records you already filed, on a job you know cold — and you see the finding sheet before any money or commitment exists. If the findings are thin or wrong, you have lost an email.

03

Everything we assert arrives in writing, dated

The exception log is not a courtesy, it is the product. Our judgment is on paper before your certification is, and you can hold the two side by side afterwards — from week one, including the weeks we raise nothing.

04

Nothing traps you if it does not work out

No software to install, no data migration, no per-seat license, no annual term, no exit fee. The switching cost of leaving is an email.

The sources, unedited

Every authority this page cites, linked to the government text itself. Open one and check us against it.

Open all 20 sources

§ 08 — The back-audit

Free. And it starts with a note, not your files.

The back-audit reviews certified payroll records you already filed on one California job — up to four certified payroll records you have already filed — against the DIR determination that governs that contract, and returns a marked-up finding sheet before any money or commitment exists.

The first note — a few lines, no files

  • Company.
  • Awarding body — city, county, district or state agency.
  • Job name or contract number.
  • DIR project ID or PWC registration number, if it is handy.
  • Filing route: DIR eCPR, or an LCP portal the awarding body mandates.
  • Approximate workers on the job.

Do not attach payrolls, and do not include worker names, Social Security numbers, or any other worker information. The reply tells you what the review needs and the transfer method available.

Once the documents are in hand, the finding sheet shows the line, what is wrong with it, and the rule it runs into — with the corrected figure wherever the record supports computing one, and a plain note on anything that could not be resolved.

Typical scope

Jobs
One California public work
Payroll source
One
Determination
One governing DIR schedule
Filing route
eCPR, or the LCP portal
Size
≈12 workers · 4 crafts
Records
Already filed — up to the last four
Cost
None. Ongoing: $750 a month
Email intake@sedonapayroll.com

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