What is Certified Payroll?
Certified Payroll Reporting Requirements and the Davis-Bacon Act

Prevailing Wages or Prevailing Wage Rate Requirements for Federal and Federally-Assisted Construction projects are governed at the Federal level by the Davis-Bacon Act, and mandate the submission of weekly certified payroll reports, beginning with the first week that your company works on the project, and for every week thereafter, until your company has completed its work.
 
The most common certified payroll reporting forms to use are the United States Department of Labor Form WH-347 - Payroll Certification and Form WH-348 - Statement of Compliance.  However, many states require the use of their own specialized forms, for projects that are funded soley with state monies, which have been derived from these standard forms. 

Countless hours of research and communication with various State Agencies has enabled us to offer, not only the standard WH-347 and WH-348 forms, but also, specialized forms required by individual states.  To verify the forms required by your state, please check either the Status-by-State or the Demonstation pages.

What is a Certified Payroll Report, What makes it "certified", and How often must I submit them?

A certified payroll report consists of two actual pages or sheets.

The first sheet reports, payroll by employee for a specific job; while the second sheet, known as a Statement of Compliance, which must be signed by the payroll administrator or other company official, and contains language "certifying" that the information is correct and true.

It is the signature on the Statement of Compliance that makes the payroll report "certified".

Certified Payroll Reports are required to be submitted each week, beginning with the first week that you actually perform work on the job.

No Work Payrolls are required to be submitted whenever there is a temporary break in your company's work on the project.

Numbering - payroll reports must be numbered consecutively, including the "No Work Payrolls".

Payroll Retention - every contractor or subcontractor is required to keep a complete set of their own certified payroll reports and other basic records, such as, time cards for the project, for at least 3 years after the project is completed.

What information has to be included on the Certified Payroll Report?

The standard U.S. Department of labor WH-347 form mandates the inclusion of the following information - these mandates became effective on April 1, 2006 and will remain in effect until March 31, 2009.  Please be aware that some states will require additional information.

• Project and contractor/subcontractor information - contractor or subcontractors company name and address; the project number, project name, project location; the payroll pay period ending date; and the payroll number.
• Employee Information - the name, address, and social security number of each employee who worked on the job for the week being reported.
• Withholding Exemptions - the number of Federal Withholding exemptions claimed by the employee.
• Employee Work Classification - each employee must be classified in accordance with the type of work they perform on the jobsite.  Consult the Prevailing Wage Determination which is included in the contract specifications package for information on classification and minimum wage requirements.  Employees performing work under more than one type of classification must be reported in separate entries on the report.
• Hours Worked:  Day and Date - your must report the number of hours worked each day for each employee, designating the number of straight/regular time hours, as well as, the number of overtime or doubletime hour, as mandated by the Contract Work Hours Standard Act.  Overtime "usually" occurs when an employee works more than 8 hours each day and 40 hours in a week, consult your local Department of Labors Prevailing Wage Division for requirement in your own state.
• Total Hours - report the total hours worked by the employee on this specific job.
• Rate of Pay/Cash Fringes - this has two separate requirements as follows:
  1. Contractors paying Fringe Benefits in Cash to the employee - for each type of wage: Straight Time (ST) or Overtime (OT), you must show the actual base rate of pay, PLUS the Fringe Benefit rate per hour, as stated in the Wage Decision or Wage Determination associated with the contract that are paid directly to the employee.  For example, per the wage decision, an employee might have a work classification that has a base rate of pay of $10.00 per hour with a fringe benefit rate of $5.00 per hour.  It is required that you report Straight Time earnings as $10.00/$5.00 on the certified payroll report.  For Overtime earnings,you are required to pay, not less than the sum of the base rate, plus, the half time premium of the base rate, plus, the benefit rate for Straight time, and should be reported as $15.00/$5.00.
  2. Contractors pay all required fringe benefits to a Union or bona-fide Fringe Benefit Plan - if you pay all required fringe benefits to approved plans, funds, or programs; in amounts not less than, stated in the wage decision associated with the contract, you are required to only show the base rate of pay for Straight Time and Overtime on the report as follows - $10.00 and $15.00.
• Gross Amount Earned This Job/All Jobs - enter the gross amount earned for this specific job.  If part of the employees total weekly gross wage was earned on projects other than the project described on this payroll, you are required to report gross wages on this project, and then gross wages on all projects; thus $60.00/$120.00.
• Deductions - there are a total of 5 columns for reporting deductions; deductions which are classified as "Other Withholding", require an explanation.  All deductions must be in accordance with the provisions of the Copeland Act Regulations: 29 CFR, Part 3.  If an employee worked on other jobs in addition to this project, you must report deductions as the actual total deductions from the full weekly gross pay, and indicate that deductions are based on gross pay.  Total Deductions from Gross Pay must be reported in the Total Deductions column.
• Net Wages Paid for the Week - the employees net wages for the week must agree with what the employee actually takes home in his paycheck.  This is the total of Gross Wages All Projects, minus Total deductions.

According to the instruction sheet provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, it is estimated that it will take approximately 56 minutes to complete a single certified payroll report listing 8 employees.  Certified Payroll Solution will shorten that time to less than 10 minutes.

Who are employees and who must be included on the certified payroll reports?

An employee is anyone who is performing construction work on the project, including:  trade journeyman (carpenters, plumbers, sheet metal workers, etc.); apprentices, trainees, watchmen, guards, and traffic control personnel.

Working foreman or supervisors that regularly spend more then 20% of their time perfoming actual construction work on the project are considered to be covered and, therefore, required to be reported on the certified payroll report.

Apprentices and Trainees are the only workers who can be paid less than the wage rate found in the wage decision for their work classification.  They must be registered in an approved apprenticeship or training program.  An approved program is one that is registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, or with a State Apprenticeship Agency that is recognized by the USDOL.

Certified Payroll Reporting requirements seem very complex, how do I obtain training?

Check with your local Department of Labor, Prevailing Wage Division, to see if they offer classes or instructions.

OR request our Free Certified Payroll Training Guide, which will teach you reporting requirements at the Federal level.  If you understand the reporting requirements at the Federal level, you can easily transfer this knowledge to the State level if necessary.

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