Guides

Certified payroll, explained from the regulations up.

Each guide is written from the Davis-Bacon regulations, the Department of Labor’s form instructions, and the statutes themselves, with the source linked at the bottom. Dates show when we last checked them.

• 5 minWhat certified payroll is, who has to file it, and whenCertified payroll is the weekly wage report every contractor and subcontractor files on a Davis-Bacon job. Here is what the regulation requires, who it goes to, and what you sign.
• 6 minHow to fill out Form WH-347, column by columnA walkthrough of the January 2025 WH-347: every header field, columns 1A through 9, the straight time and overtime rows, and page 2. With the rules behind each box.
• 5 minThe Statement of Compliance: what each box certifiesPage 2 of the WH-347 is a sworn statement. Here is what the 3 required certifications mean, who may sign, what counts as a signature, and the penalties for getting it wrong.
• 6 minOvertime on prevailing wage jobs: the 40-hour rule and the fringe trapWhich law requires overtime on a Davis-Bacon job, how the overtime rate is computed when fringe is paid in cash, and why 1.5 times the wrong number gets payrolls rejected.
• 5 minFringe benefits on a Davis-Bacon job: cash, plan, or bothThe wage determination lists a fringe rate next to the basic rate. You can pay it into benefit plans, pay it as cash, or split it. Here is how each choice is credited and how it shows on the WH-347.
• 6 minApprentices on Davis-Bacon jobs: who qualifies for the reduced rateOnly registered apprentices may be paid below the journeyworker rate, only within the program's ratio, and only with the program's fringe. What to report on the WH-347 and what happens when the paperwork is missing.
• 4 minPayroll deductions the Copeland Act allows on certified payrollColumn 8 of the WH-347 is checked against 29 CFR part 3. Here is the list of deductions you can take without asking, the ones that need Department of Labor approval, and the ones that are never allowed.
• 5 minCertified payroll records: what to keep and for how longThree years after all work on the prime contract is completed, not three years after your last week. The list of records the regulation requires, including the phone numbers and emails added in 2023.
• 6 minReading a Davis-Bacon wage determination, and what to do when your trade isn't on itWhere wage determinations come from, how to read the number, the rates, and the modifications, which version applies to your contract, and how a missing classification is added through a conformance.
• 4 minOne worker, two classifications in the same weekA laborer who runs the skid steer on Tuesday is an operator on Tuesday. How to pay it, how to record it, how to report it on the WH-347, and what happens when the timecards don't split the hours.
• 3 minWeeks with no work on the project: what the rule requires and what agencies ask forThe federal clause requires a payroll for weeks in which covered work is performed. Many agencies and primes want a no-work payroll anyway. How to handle gaps, and how to number them.
• 4 minWhy certified payroll uses an identifying number, not a Social Security numberThe regulation prohibits full SSNs and home addresses on weekly certified payrolls. What to use instead, what the prime can still ask you for privately, and how state forms differ.
• 5 minState certified payroll requirements: how California, New York, Washington, and Illinois differ from the WH-347About half the states have their own prevailing wage laws with their own certified payroll systems. What each of the 4 largest asks for, how it differs from the federal form, and how to handle a job covered by both.
• 5 minThe 2023 Davis-Bacon rule: what changed for contractors filing certified payrollThe Department of Labor's first comprehensive Davis-Bacon update in nearly 40 years took effect October 23, 2023. The changes that reach a subcontractor's payroll, and the 3 provisions a court has paused.
• 4 minCorrecting a certified payroll you already submittedThere is no federal form for a correction. There is a well-established practice: a revised payroll with the same number, a new Statement of Compliance, and restitution shown where wages were short. How to do it without making the file worse.
• 5 minThe 12 mistakes that get certified payrolls rejectedRejections come from a short list. Each item below is a rule in the regulations or the form instructions, what it looks like when it goes wrong, and the fix.
• 4 minSite of the work: which hours are covered and which are notDavis-Bacon applies to laborers and mechanics employed on the site of the work. The regulation defines the site in 3 parts, and the definition decides whether your yard, your batch plant, your prefab shop, and your drive time go on the certified payroll.
• 4 minWhat the prime contractor is responsible for on a sub's certified payrollThe prime collects every sub's payroll, sends them all to the agency, and is liable for every sub's back wages. What the regulation requires of the prime, what it does not, and what that means for the sub handing over the payroll.
• 5 minDoes Davis-Bacon apply to my project? Thresholds, Related Acts, and the 4 types of constructionThe $2,000 threshold, the 70-odd statutes that extend prevailing wage to federally assisted work, the $100,000 overtime threshold, and how to read the bid documents to know which rules you are under.
• 6 minCertified payroll glossary: the terms on the form, in the regulation, and on the jobBasic hourly rate, fringe, conformance, CWHSSA, Copeland, RA, SF-1444, WD, and 40 other terms defined in a sentence or two each, with the guide that covers them.

These guides explain the rules as written; they are not legal advice. When your contract or a state law says something different, the contract and the law control.