New Apprenticeship Compliance Regulations Adopted

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries adopted new regulations at the end of 2011 establishing a process for investigating contractor violations of apprenticeship program standards relating to the ratio, supervision, or approved work processes.

Applicability:  The new regulations in WAC 296-05-015 were adopted on December 31, 2011.  They apply to the compliance requirements of RCW 39.04.350 (for bidder responsibility) and RCW 39.12.055 (for debarment).

Bidder Responsibility:  One of the mandatory bidder responsibility criteria of RCW 39.04.350 for public works projects applies only to the following agencies who are subject to the apprenticeship requirements of RCW 39.04.320 on public works projects:

• State Department of Enterprise Services (formerly General Administration or GA)
• Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)
• Institutions of higher education
• All school districts

RCW 39.04.350 (1)(e) states that a bidder on a project for one of the above-named agencies will be found to not be a responsible bidder if they been 

"...found out of compliance by the Washington state apprenticeship and training council for working apprentices out of ratio, without appropriate supervision, or outside their approved work processes as outlined in their standards of apprenticeship under chapter 49.04 RCW for the one-year period immediately preceding the date of the bid solicitation."

Debarment:  Separate from the mandatory bidder responsibility requirement above, RCW 39.12.055, which is part of the prevailing wage law, states the conditions under which a contractor may be debarred for a one year period of time.  One of the three violations that may subject a contractor to debarment relates to a determination by the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council that the contractor is out of compliance

"...for working apprentices out of ratio, without appropriate supervision, or outside their approved work processes as outlined in their standards of apprenticeship under chapter 49.04 RCW."

Nature of Apprenticeship Violations:  Under both the bidder responsibility and debarment laws noted above, the violations of apprenticeship standards relate to:

• Working apprentices out of ratio: Each separate apprenticeship program approved by the Department of Labor and Industries has an approved ratio of how many apprentices may work at any given time on a project based on the number of journey-level workers present.  For example, if the program standards require that there be no more than one apprentice for every two journey-level workers, but the contractor has two or more apprentices working with a crew of two journey-level workers, the contractor would be out of compliance with the ratio.

• Working without appropriate supervision:  Program standards for each apprenticeship program require certain levels of supervision for apprentices.  At its extreme, for example, if an apprentice was working alone on a project without any supervision, that would be a violation of the supervisory standards, and probably the ratio standards as well.

• Working outside approved work processes:  Apprentices for a particular trade may perform duties related to that particular trade as defined in the program standards of the Department of Labor and Industries and the prevailing wage work classifications.  Performing work outside of what an apprentice is authorized to work on would be a violation of the apprenticeship standards.

Due Process:  The new regulations in WAC 296-05-015 describe the due process requirements of the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council in investigating allegations and making findings that a contractor is out of compliance with apprenticeship standards.

Public Notice:  The new WAC states that a list of those found out of compliance will be made "available to the public upon request."  Presumably, and hopefully this means that the Department of Labor and Industries will, for debarment purposes, include such violations on their existing online debarment list for violations of prevailing wage, workers compensation, and contractor registration requirements.  The new WAC, however, is not clear on this point.

Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog 

© 2012 by Michael E. Purdy Associates, LLC 

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