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Illustrative sample — fictional contractor, figures redacted

Certified-Payroll Compliance Audit

Pre-flight read · DIR eCPR / WH-347

Contractor Meridian Underground, Inc.
Project SR-14 Drainage & Grading · Caltrans Dist. 7
Pay period Week ending Aug 8, 2026 · 14 workers, 3 crafts

Status

HELD

Would not clear pre-flight. Do not file as-is.

Exposure

$48,200

Progress payments at risk + §1775 penalties

Findings

2 correctable this week · 1 project-wide

Findings — what would withhold your payment

Fringe rate below the determinationLab. Code §1773.1 · §1775

Issue. Laborer Group 1 paid $47.36/hr base+fringe; the applicable determination requires $49.50. Short $2.14/hr across 92 straight-time hours.

Fix. Pay the $2.14 differential and refile the corrected CPR for the affected weeks.

Exposure. Back wages + penalties up to $200/day per worker under §1775.

Confidence. High — reconciled against the printed determination (below).

Apprentice ratio exceededLab. Code §1777.5 · §1777.7

Issue. On 08/05 and 08/06, the Operating Engineer craft ran a 1:6 journeyman-to-apprentice ratio; 1:5 is required. Two apprentice hours over ratio. DAS-140/142 on file.

Fix. Adjust crew composition or document a compliant exception; correct the two affected days.

Exposure. §1777.7 penalties and potential ineligibility findings at audit.

Confidence. High — timecard vs. registered-apprentice hours.

Wage determination not locked to the bid-advertisement dateDIR · §1770–1773

Issue. The filing used the current determination. The applicable one is the determination in effect on the bid-advertisement date (03/14/2026), which carries different rates on two classifications. Systematic — affects every filed week.

Fix. Re-key the project to the bid-date determination and recompute all filed weeks.

Exposure. Project-wide underpayment — the largest single driver of the $48,200 estimate.

Confidence. High — determination effective-date mismatch.

Reconciliation — the math that flagged it

Worker · craft (redacted)Paid basePaid fringeTotal

Worker 04 · SSN •••-••-4821 · Laborer G1$34.50$12.86$47.36

Determination requires$33.24$16.26$49.50

Delta — does not reconcile—−$3.40−$2.14 / hr

Base was over-allocated and fringe under-allocated; the total still falls $2.14 short of the determination. Netting base against fringe does not satisfy §1773.1.

Pre-flight checks — 3 cleared, 2 blocked

DIR registration active for the work week
Overtime & classification verified
Apprentice DAS-140/142 on file (ratio flagged separately)
Base + fringe meets the rate — failed (no netting)
Wage determination locked to bid date — failed

Held. Two checks blocked it from filing.

Corrected first, this filing avoids an estimated $48,200 in withheld progress payments and §1775 penalties. Filed as-is, none of it is visible on a read — it surfaces months later, at audit, as held money. That is exactly the kind of error a gate should catch before it leaves.

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Illustrative sample only. Meridian Underground, Inc. and the SR-14 project are fictional; all figures, names, and identifiers are redacted or invented for demonstration. Not a real client filing. Aeternus Dynamics is a compliance and advisory firm, not a law firm.