Certified payroll, explained

Certified payroll is the weekly wage report contractors and subcontractors must submit on government-funded construction work covered by the Davis-Bacon Act (federal contracts over $2,000) and related state prevailing-wage laws. The standard federal form is the Department of Labor's WH-347, paired with a signed Statement of Compliance.

Who has to file

Every contractor and every subcontractorperforming covered work on the project. Subs submit to the prime contractor; the prime collects all reports and submits them to the contracting agency. If a sub doesn't file, the prime is on the hook — which is why GCs freeze pay applications until certified payrolls arrive.

When

Weekly, for every week your crew performs covered work, numbered sequentially from the first week on the contract. Reports are due within seven days of the regular pay date. Weeks with no covered work still get a “no work performed” payroll to keep the sequence unbroken. Records must be retained for at least three years after project completion.

What it must show

For each worker: name and last four of the SSN, work classification from the contract's wage determination, daily straight-time and overtime hours, rate of pay including fringe benefits, gross earned (this project and all projects), deductions, and net paid. Fringe can be paid into bona fide plans or as cash on the check — the WH-347 records which, via the section 4(a)/4(b) checkboxes.

What goes wrong

The most common violations: paying below the wage determination rate for the classification, misclassifying workers, missing fringe, and overtime not paid at 1.5× the basic rate over 40 hours (CWHSSA). Consequences run from restitution (back pay) and withheld contract payments to debarment — and the Statement of Compliance is signed under penalty of perjury.