Do AmeriCorps volunteers need to have Davis-Bacon wages or be registered as apprentices or should they be exempt as they e government employees?
The DBA provides that it does not supersede or impair any authority otherwise granted by Federal law to provide for the establishment of specific wage rates. The authorizing statutes for the Youth Conservation Corps, 16 U.S.C. 1703(a)(3), and the Public Land Corps, 16 U.S.C. 1726, for example, specifically require the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to set the rates of pay or living allowances for the Corps’ participants. Other youth programs, such as the American Conservation and Youth Service Corps (AmeriCorps), 42 U.S.C. 126551, and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), 42 U.S.C. 4955, specify in the statutory language the living allowances and other benefits that must be provided to each participant. Therefore, since these Federal youth programs have established specific compensation to be paid to participants, such participants would not be covered by Davis-Bacon labor standards.
