Washington certified payroll: L&I's online system, the Intent and Affidavit, and federal jobs

Washington runs state certified payroll through the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), and every filing ties back to an approved Statement of Intent. You can't file payroll on a project until your Intent is approved, and the agency can't make payments on the contract until every contractor's Intent is in.

The law and what it covers

Chapter 39.12 RCW requires the prevailing rate of wage on all public works and public building service maintenance contracts of the state, a county, a city, or any political subdivision. The statute sets no minimum contract amount. It doesn't apply to workers regularly employed by the public body itself, and L&I says it usually doesn't reach design, software, or programming work.

2 dollar figures matter to a sub:

• Over $10,000. You post the approved Intent and L&I's address and phone number for complaints where workers can see them. On road, sewer, pipeline, and similar jobs with no field office, you can post at your local office or plant and hand a copy to any worker who asks. Until the Intent is approved, L&I says to post the applicable wage rates.
• $5,000 or less. Under RCW 39.12.040(2), the awarding agency can let you hand the Intent straight to the agency without L&I approval and file the Affidavit at the end. The agency sends the Affidavit to L&I within 30 days.

Intent, payroll, and Affidavit

All 3 filings go through the Prevailing Wage Intent and Affidavit (PWIA) system, reached through the Contractor Portal in My L&I.

1. Statement of Intent to Pay Prevailing Wages. L&I says to file it right after award and before work begins. For a contract over $10,000 the Intent lists your contractor registration number, the prevailing rate for each classification, and the estimated number of workers in each. L&I's industrial statistician approves it, and the agency can't make any payment until it's approved.

2. Certified payroll. Since January 1, 2020, RCW 39.12.120 has required each contractor, subcontractor, and employer to file certified payroll in L&I's online system at least once a month. Reports are weekly and attach to your approved Intent number. A few mechanics from L&I's instructions:

• The week-ending day is set by your first report on the project and can't be changed.
• Manual entry runs in 3 steps: workers and rates, hours and deductions, then review and sign. You type your name and title and check "Yes, I AFFIRM" to sign the state affirmation page.
• Bulk options: an XML upload checked against L&I's schema, and a CSV template for adding employees. Trade codes and classifications must match L&I's wage lookup.
• For idle weeks, a No Work Performed report covers a date range in 1 filing.
• An owner with no employees downloads a paper form, signs it, and uploads the scan.
• An amendment replaces the week and records the reason; L&I keeps the earlier version.

Under RCW 39.12.050, each failure to file can bring a $500 civil penalty, and you can't bid on public works until it's paid. An error L&I finds inadvertent is excused, and proving that is on you. Prime contractors and awarding agencies see your reports in their own L&I accounts once you affirm them.

3. Affidavit of Wages Paid. At the end of your work you file the Affidavit, stating the work done and the rates paid. L&I certifies it, and the agency won't release retainage until every contractor's Affidavit is in. If a sub has gone out of business or won't file, the contractor above it may file on its behalf and takes on responsibility for any unpaid wages. Owner-operators who pay themselves no prevailing wage still file the Intent and the Affidavit.

Worker data the WH-347 doesn't carry

RCW 39.12.120 and WAC 296-127-320 require payroll records showing each worker's full name, address, Social Security number, trade or occupation, classification, straight and overtime rates, hourly rate of usual benefits, hours each day and week, any 4-10 agreements, gross wages, itemized deductions, withholdings, and net pay. L&I's report includes:

• Full Social Security number. Required by the online system and the XML schema, and each must be unique. L&I masks it after you save it.
• Home address, city, state, and ZIP.
• Executed 4-10 agreements for workers on 10-hour days, uploaded to the project.
• Total pay for the week from all work, plus every deduction beyond FICA and federal withholding.
• Apprentice details: apprentice ID, state of registration (WA, OR, MT, or AK in the XML schema), occupation, and step.
• Optional: gender, race or ethnicity, and veteran status.

The federal WH-347 is prohibited from carrying full SSNs or home addresses; it takes an individually identifying number such as the last 4 digits. How the federal identifying number works.

Other state rules that affect payroll

Responsible bidder. You need a UBI number, current contractor registration, industrial insurance for employees, and no debarment. L&I's public works training is required unless you've been in business 3 or more years and completed 3 or more public works projects.

Apprentices. Only workers registered with the state apprenticeship council can be paid the apprentice rate (RCW 39.12.021). Anyone else is paid the journey-level rate. An apprentice working outside their trade is paid journey level for that trade.

Apprentice utilization. RCW 39.04.320 requires specifications on many public works estimated at $1,000,000 or more to call for at least 15% of labor hours by apprentices. For municipal contracts advertised on or after July 1, 2026, the threshold is $1,500,000. The prime handles the utilization plan; your apprentice hours on certified payroll count toward it.

Overtime. L&I requires overtime after 8 hours in a calendar day (10 with a valid 4-10 agreement) and over 40 in a week, plus any holiday or weekend terms in the rate notes.

Usual benefits. Washington's fringe credit. Cash fringe paid on the check counts as wages.

Retention. Keep payroll records for 3 years from the date the agency accepts the project.

Jobs with federal money

When federal money brings Davis-Bacon onto a Washington public work, L&I says you must comply with both laws: meet the more demanding pay requirement and complete the paperwork for each. In practice that means paying at least the higher of the state and federal rates for each classification and keeping 2 separate payroll streams. The state side is the Intent, the weekly reports filed in L&I's system, and the Affidavit. The federal side is a weekly WH-347 sent to the prime, with an identifying number in place of the SSN and no address. The hours and pay match; the data and the recipients don't. How the 4 largest states compare.

What CertifiedHours does here

CertifiedHours produces the federal WH-347, plus an LCPtracker upload file and a CSV, for federally funded work in Washington. It does not file in L&I's PWIA system, and it does not collect full Social Security numbers or home addresses, both of which L&I requires. For state-funded work, file your Intent, certified payroll, and Affidavit directly in L&I's system. Using the LCPtracker file.