Weeks with no work on the project: what the rule requires and what agencies ask for

Your crew was pulled to another job for 2 weeks. Do you owe certified payrolls for those weeks?

What the regulation says

The contract clause requires weekly submission "for each week in which any DBA- or Related Acts-covered work is performed." Read literally, a week with no covered work generates no federal obligation to file.

What agencies and primes ask for

Most contracting agencies, and most prime contractors, want something for every week from your first day on the project to your last, so the sequence of payroll numbers has no gaps and the reviewer can tell an idle week from a missing report. HUD's contractor guide treats no-work payrolls as optional when you number consecutively or send a note about the break, but many state departments of transportation and most prime compliance departments ask for one anyway.

The request is reasonable and cheap to satisfy, and refusing it on the grounds that the regulation does not require it will cost you goodwill with the person who approves your payments. Treat it as a contract requirement if the prime asks for it.

What a no-work payroll looks like

A WH-347 with the header filled in, the next payroll number in sequence, the week-ending date for the idle week, no worker rows, and a note across the payroll area: "No work performed on this project during this payroll period." Page 2 is signed as usual; the certifications about the workers on the payroll are true because there are none.

Some agencies accept a one-line letter or an email stating the project, the contractor, and the week with no work. Others want the form. Ask the prime once, at the start of the project, and do it the same way every time.

Numbering

Payroll numbers run in sequence from your first week to your final payroll. A no-work payroll takes the next number like any other week. If you skip the numbers for idle weeks, the reviewer sees payroll 6 followed by payroll 9 and asks where 7 and 8 went.

If you did not file no-work payrolls at the time and the prime later asks for them to close the sequence, file them with the numbers that fill the gaps and the correct week-ending dates. Do not renumber the payrolls you already submitted.

The final payroll

The last week you perform covered work is your final payroll. Check the "Submission of final DBRA certified payroll form" box in the header. If you do not know whether the crew will return, leave the box unchecked; a later no-work payroll or a return to the site is easier to explain than a payroll filed after a "final."

If you return after checking final, file the new weeks in sequence and tell the prime in the remarks that work resumed. There is no penalty for an early "final"; there is a conversation.

Partial weeks and other jobs

A week in which the crew worked 1 day on the project is a work week, with a full payroll showing that day's hours. A week in which the crew worked 40 hours for you on other jobs and none on this project is a no-work week for this project; the other jobs do not appear on this payroll.

When you have no work because of a shutdown

Weather shutdowns, owner delays, and stop-work orders are ordinary no-work weeks for payroll purposes. The payroll does not need a reason. If the shutdown runs for months, ask the prime whether they want weekly no-work payrolls throughout or a single statement covering the period; agencies differ, and either is defensible if the prime agreed to it in writing.

State portals

State systems have their own rules. California's eCPR system has a "statement of non-performance" you file for weeks with no work on a public works project, and it expects one for each idle week. New York's portal requires reporting at least every 30 days throughout the life of the project, so an idle month still generates a filing. Federal no-work payrolls and state non-performance statements are separate filings for separate programs. How the states differ.