Hensel Phelps Construction Co. v. San Diego Unified Port District

California’s prevailing wage law (Lab. Code, § 1720 et seq.) (the PWL) 1 provides that, with certain exceptions, the prevailing wage “shall be paid to all workers employed on public works.” (§ 1771.) In this appeal we consider whether a hotel construction project on land that the San Diego Unified Port District (the Port District) leases to the hotel owner qualifies as a public work within the meaning of the PWL where the lease specifies that the *1024 Port District will provide what the lease refers to as a “rent credit” in the total amount of $46.5 million during the first 11 years of the lease.

In ruling on a petition for writ of mandate (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085) from a decision of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), the trial court held that the hotel construction project was not a public work subject to the PWL, and it therefore granted the petition. On our independent review of the question of statutory interpretation presented to us, we disagree with the trial court. The hotel project, which was constructed pursuant to the terms of the lease with the Port District, is a public work because (1) it constitutes “[construction . . . done under contract” (§…