22.401
Definitions
In federal construction contracting, compliance often turns on definitions: if you misclassify the worker, worksite, or wage components under FAR 22.401, you risk applying the wrong labor standards and underpaying covered employees.
Overview
- FAR 22.401 provides the core definitions used in Subpart 22.4, which governs labor standards for construction contracts, including Davis-Bacon-related wage requirements.
- These definitions determine which workers, locations, and activities are covered, making them critical for classifying labor correctly and applying wage determinations and labor standards clauses.
Key Rules
- Apprentice and Trainee
- An apprentice must be individually registered in a bona fide apprenticeship program recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor or a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency, or be within the first 90 days of certified probationary employment. A trainee must be registered in a DOL-approved on-the-job training program.
- Construction, Alteration, or Repair
- Covered work includes on-site construction activities, remodeling, painting, decorating, certain on-site installation of off-site fabricated items, on-site manufacturing or furnishing of materials, and specified transportation between covered sites.
- Laborers or Mechanics
- This term includes workers performing manual or physical duties, apprentices, trainees, helpers, certain watchmen and guards, and working foremen who spend more than 20% of a workweek doing covered manual work. It excludes primarily executive, administrative, professional, supervisory, or clerical personnel, subject to 29 CFR part 541.
- Public Building or Public Work / Site of the Work / Wages
- Coverage extends to federally funded or federally authorized public buildings or works serving the public interest. The site of the work includes the primary site and certain dedicated secondary or adjacent facilities, but excludes permanent contractor facilities and preexisting supplier plants. Wages include basic hourly pay plus qualifying fringe benefits, but not benefits required by other law.
Responsibilities
- Contracting Officers: apply these definitions when determining whether construction labor standards clauses and wage requirements apply to workers, locations, and activities.
- Contractors: classify workers accurately, use only properly registered apprentices and trainees at applicable rates, and include allowable fringe benefits in wage calculations.
- Agencies: ensure labor standards oversight is based on the correct scope of covered work, covered sites, and covered workers.
Practical Implications
- This section exists to prevent misclassification and underpayment on federal construction work.
- It affects payroll practices, worker classification, site coverage determinations, and whether transportation or off-site fabrication activities fall under labor standards.
- Common pitfalls include treating working foremen or off-site facilities as exempt without analyzing the regulatory definitions, and counting nonqualifying benefits toward required wages.