§4.179. Identification of contract work. — Inbound Citations

A contractor's obligation to observe the provisions of the Act arises on the date the contractor is informed that award of the contract has been made, and not necessarily on the date of formal execution. However, the contractor is required to comply with the provisions of the Act and regulations thereunder only while the employees are performing on the contract, provided the contractor's records make clear the period of such performance. (See also § 4.179.) If employees of the contractor are required by the contract to complete certain preliminary training or testing prior to the commencement of the contract services, or if there is a phase-in period which allows the new contractor's employees to familiarize themselves with the contract work so as to provide a smooth transition between contractors, the time spent by employees undertaking such training or phase-in work is considered to be hours worked on the contract and must be compensated for even though the principal contract services may not commence until a later date.

Since employees subject to the Act are entitled to the minimum compensation specified under its provisions for each hour worked in performance of a covered contract, a computation of their hours worked in each workweek when such work under the contract is performed is essential. Determinations of hours worked will be made in accordance with the principles applied under the Fair Labor Standards Act as set forth in part 785 of this title which is incorporated herein by reference. In general, the hours worked by an employee include all periods in which the employee is suffered or permitted to work whether or not required to do so, and all time during which the employee is required to be on duty or to be on the employer's premises or to be at a prescribed workplace. The hours worked which are subject to the compensation provisions of the Act are those in which the employee is engaged in performing work on contracts subject to the Act. However, unless such hours are adequately segregated, as indicated in § 4.179, compensation in accordance with the Act will be required for all hours of work in any workweek in which the employee performs any work in connection with the contract, in the absence of affirmative proof to the contrary that such work did not continue throughout the workweek.

The records which a contractor or subcontractor is required to keep concerning employment of employees subject to the Act are specified in § 4.6(g) of subpart A of this part. They are required to be maintained for 3 years from the completion of the work, and must be made available for inspection and transcription by authorized representatives of the Administrator. Such records must be kept for each service employee performing work under the contract, for each workweek during the performance of the contract. If the required records are not separately kept for the service employees performing on the contract, it will be presumed, in the absence of affirmative proof to the contrary, that all service employees in the department or establishment where the contract was performed were engaged in covered work during the period of performance. (See § 4.179.)