Massachusetts certified payroll: weekly reports, the Statement of Compliance, and what the WH-347 leaves out

Massachusetts runs its own prevailing wage program for public works paid for by the Commonwealth, a county, a city or town, or any district or authority. The Department of Labor Standards (DLS) issues the rate schedules. The Attorney General's Fair Labor Division enforces the law and handles complaints.

The law and when it applies

Public construction is covered by G.L. c. 149, sections 26 to 27D. Sections 27F to 27H extend prevailing wage to trucks and equipment rented for public works, office moving, and state cleaning contracts. DLS states plainly that there is no dollar threshold: the awarding authority must get a rate schedule for every public construction project, whatever the contract amount.

The schedule is part of the contract and stays in effect for the life of the job, with one exception. On projects lasting more than a year, the awarding authority requests an updated schedule each year and the new rates take effect on the anniversary of the contract. The general contractor gets the update from the awarding authority, and every sub pays it from that date.

How the weekly payroll is submitted

Section 27B requires every contractor and subcontractor to keep a record of each worker showing name, address, occupational classification, hours worked, and wages paid. Each week you send a complete copy of that record to the awarding authority "directly," by first-class mail or email, with a statement signed by the employer that the records are correct and showing the rate paid to each worker.

DLS publishes 2 forms for this:

• The Massachusetts Weekly Certified Payroll Report and Workforce Participation Form, which the Attorney General's contractor page calls a sample.
• The Weekly Statement of Compliance, a 1-page certification that everyone on the project was paid the rates set under sections 26 and 27. The signer is someone who pays or supervises the payment of wages.

Within 15 days after you finish your portion of the work, you also give the awarding authority a final statement of compliance in the form printed in section 27B.

The state's form is described as a sample, and the statute sets the contents, so a payroll in another layout can meet the law if it carries everything section 27B lists. A WH-347 alone does not: it has no worker address column, and its page 2 certifies federal requirements. If you want to send something other than the DLS form, get the awarding authority's answer in writing first.

The statute and the DLS forms say nothing about weeks with no work. Ask the awarding authority at the start of the job how it wants idle weeks reported. How no-work weeks are handled on federal jobs.

You keep your payroll records for 3 years from completion of the contract. The awarding authority keeps its copies for 3 years too.

What the Massachusetts payroll asks for

Compared with the federal WH-347, the DLS form adds:

• Each worker's complete address.
• Project hours split into non-minority, minority, and women, for the state's workforce participation goals.
• A column confirming each worker is OSHA 10 certified.
• The apprentice rate as a percentage.
• Hourly employer contributions broken out into health and welfare, pension, and supplemental unemployment.
• The check number, the awarding authority, and the DLS rate sheet number in the header.
• 3 yes-or-no questions about apprentices and their registration.

It does not ask for Social Security numbers. The header asks for your company's taxpayer ID.

Rules that change the payroll

Fringe credit is narrower than the federal rule. The Massachusetts rate schedule lists a "total rate." You can credit toward it only what you contribute to health and welfare, pension, and supplemental unemployment plans. The Attorney General's guidance lists vacation, sick time, training funds, and uniforms among the items you cannot count, even where federal law allows them. If you contribute to none of the 3 plans, the worker's hourly pay is the full total rate. How fringe works on the federal form.

Apprentices must be registered in Massachusetts. Each apprentice, and the program, must be registered with the Division of Apprentice Standards to be paid the apprentice rate. Registration with another state or with the federal Office of Apprenticeship does not count. For every week an apprentice works, a photocopy of the apprentice's identification card goes with the payroll. An unregistered worker is paid the journeyworker total rate.

OSHA 10 proof goes with the first payroll. On public works estimated to cost more than $10,000, everyone employed at the worksite must have completed a 10-hour OSHA construction course before starting work. You attach documentation, an OSHA completion card or a copy, to the first certified payroll that lists each worker. The Attorney General accepts the 30-hour card as well. Workers must carry their card on site or be able to point to where it is kept, and a worker without one can be removed.

The payroll is open to the public. Section 27B makes the payroll copies and statements of compliance available for inspection and copying by any interested party who files a written request with the awarding authority. The copies a requester sees include your workers' addresses and pay.

Penalties are steep. A willful violation of section 27B can bring a fine of up to $25,000 and up to 1 year in jail for a first offense, under section 27C. The Attorney General can instead issue a civil citation with restitution and penalties, and a criminal conviction for a willful violation brings a 5-year bar from public work.

Jobs with federal money

The Attorney General's guidance notes that federally funded or partially federally funded projects may also carry Davis-Bacon rates. When both laws apply, each sets a minimum, so you pay at least the higher of the 2 rates for each classification. Check the fringe side too: a federal fringe credit Massachusetts does not recognize, such as vacation, cannot count toward the state total rate.

The filings are separate. The weekly Massachusetts payroll and statement go to the awarding authority under section 27B. The WH-347, with its own Statement of Compliance and without addresses, goes up the federal chain as the contract directs. The hours and pay on both should match. The federal Statement of Compliance.

What CertifiedHours does here

CertifiedHours produces the federal WH-347, plus an LCPtracker upload file and a CSV, for federally funded work. It does not produce the Massachusetts Weekly Certified Payroll Report or the Weekly Statement of Compliance, and it does not collect workers' home addresses, which every Massachusetts payroll must show. On a state-only job, use the DLS form or the format your awarding authority names. On a job that also has federal money, CertifiedHours covers the federal filing. How the other states compare.