Section 1781 Of Article 2. Wages From California Labor Code >> Division 2. >> Part 7. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 2.
1781
. (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
contractor may, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), bring an action in
a court of competent jurisdiction 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 any
decision by the body, the Department of Industrial Relations, or a
court that classifies, after the time at which the body accepts the
contractor's bid or awards the contractor a contract in circumstances
where no bid is solicited, the work covered by the bid or contract
as a "public work," as defined in this chapter, to which Section 1771
applies, if that body, before the bid opening or awarding of the
contract, failed to identify as a "public work," as defined in this
chapter, in the bid specification or in the contract documents that
portion of the work that the decision classifies as a "public work."
(2) The body awarding a contract for a public work or otherwise
undertaking any public work is not liable for increased costs in an
action described in paragraph (1) if all of the following conditions
are met:
(A) The contractor did not directly submit a bid to, or directly
contract with, that body.
(B) The body stated in the contract, agreement, ordinance, or
other written arrangement by which it undertook the public work that
the work described in paragraph (1) was a "public work," as defined
in this chapter, to which Section 1771 applies, and obligated the
party with whom the body makes its written arrangement to cause the
work described in paragraph (1) to be performed as a "public work."
(C) The body fulfilled all of its duties, if any, under the Civil
Code or any other provision of law pertaining to the body providing
and maintaining bonds to secure the payment of contractors, including
the payment of wages to workers performing the work described in
paragraph (1).
(3) If a contractor did not directly submit a bid to, or directly
contract with a body awarding a contract for, or otherwise
undertaking a public work, the liability of that body in an action
commenced by the contractor under subdivision (a) is limited to that
portion of a judgment, obtained by that contractor against the body
that solicited the contractor's bid or awarded the contract to the
contractor, that the contractor is unable to satisfy. For purposes of
this paragraph, a contractor may not be deemed to be unable to
satisfy any portion of a judgment unless, in addition to other
collection measures, the contractor has made a good faith attempt to
collect that portion of the judgment against a surety bond,
guarantee, or some other form of assurance.
(b) When construction has not commenced at the time a final
decision by the Department of Industrial Relations or a court
classifies all or part of the work covered by the bid or contract as
a "public work," as defined in this chapter, the body that solicited
the bid or awarded the contract shall rebid the "public work" covered
by the contract as a "public work," any bid that was submitted and
any contract that was executed for this work are null and void, and
the contractor may not be compensated for any nonconstruction work
already performed unless the body soliciting the bid or awarding the
contract has agreed to compensate the contractor for this work.
(c) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Awarding body" does not include the Department of General
Services, the Department of Transportation, or the Department of
Water Resources.
(2) "Increased costs" includes, but is not limited to:
(A) Labor cost increases required to be paid to workers who
perform or performed work on the "public work" as a result of the
events described in subdivision (a).
(B) Penalties for a violation of this article for which the
contractor is liable, and which violation is the result of the events
described in subdivision (a).