The WH-347, annotated: every box explained

Name of contractor or subcontractor, and address

Your legal business name and business address, and a check in the box for contractor (prime) or subcontractor. Use the same name that is on the subcontract.

The regulation requires the payroll to identify the contractor or subcontractor submitting it. The address is the business's, never a worker's.

A DBA that does not match the subcontract, so the prime's system cannot match the payroll to the vendor.

Payroll no.

Sequential, starting at 1 for the first week you performed work on the project, and continuing through the last week, when the "Submission of final" box is checked.

The number sequence is how reviewers see that no week is missing. The regulation requires a payroll only for weeks with covered work, but a no-work payroll keeps the sequence unbroken and most primes want one.

Skipping a number for an idle week, or restarting at 1 after a break in the work.

For week ending

The last calendar day of your regular payroll week, whatever day that is.

The workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring 168-hour period. Overtime is computed on it, so the form's week must be your payroll workweek, not the calendar week.

Changing the week-ending day between payrolls, which breaks the overtime calculation.

Project and location

The project name as it appears on the contract, and the city, county, and state of the site.

The location ties the payroll to the wage determination, which is issued by county and type of construction.

Using the prime's office address instead of the site.

Project or contract no.

The contracting agency's or owner's contract number, from the prime contract or your subcontract.

Identifies which wage determination and which contract clauses govern this payroll.

Column 1A, entry number

A sequential number for each worker row on this payroll, starting at 1 each week.

Used on page 2 to tie fringe credits and remarks to workers without repeating names.

A worker with 2 classifications gets 2 rows with the same entry number, not 2 numbers.

Columns 1B, 1C, 1D: last name, first name, middle initial

The worker's legal name, split into fields on the 2025 revision.

The regulation requires the name of each laborer and mechanic. Middle initial is optional.

Nicknames, or a different spelling from last week's payroll, which makes one worker look like 2.

Column 1E, worker identifying number

The last 4 digits of the Social Security number, or an employee number from your payroll system. The same number for the same worker every week.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(A): full Social Security numbers and home addresses must not be included on weekly transmittals. An individually identifying number is required instead.

The full SSN. It violates the clause and exposes the worker.

Column 2, journeyworker or apprentice

J for a journeyworker. RA for a registered apprentice, with the period or percentage, such as RA 60%.

Apprentices may be paid less than the determination rate only if individually registered in a registered program. Anyone marked RA must appear in box 4 on page 2 with the program.

RA for a helper or trainee who is not registered. That worker is owed the full journeyworker rate.

Column 3, work classification

The classification from the wage determination that matches the work performed, written as the determination writes it, including group or zone.

Pay follows the work performed, not the worker's title. A worker who did 2 kinds of work gets 2 rows.

"Operator" when the determination says "Power Equipment Operator Group 2". Reviewers cannot check a rate against a name that is not on the determination.

Column 4, days and dates, hours worked each day

The 7 calendar dates of the workweek across the top. For each worker, straight time hours on the top line and overtime hours on the bottom line, by day.

The regulation requires daily and weekly hours. The split at 40 is the CWHSSA and FLSA rule; the day the 41st hour falls is the day overtime starts.

Straight time hours adding to more than 40 across the week, with nothing on the overtime line.

Column 5, total hours

Straight time hours on the top line, overtime hours on the bottom line, for the week.

The top line can never exceed 40 on a contract where CWHSSA applies (or the FLSA, for most workers).

Column 6A, rate of pay

The basic hourly rate on the top line. The overtime rate, 1.5 times the basic rate, on the bottom line. Fringe is not included in either.

29 CFR 5.32: overtime is computed on the basic hourly rate, and the basic rate used must be at least the determination's. Fringe is excluded from the multiplication.

An overtime rate of 1.5 times basic plus fringe. On a $42.15 basic and $18.40 fringe that is $90.83 instead of $63.23.

Column 6B, fringe benefits paid to approved plans

Total hours for the week times the hourly plan credit, for contributions to bona fide plans. Each plan is listed on page 2.

Plan contributions count toward the fringe requirement when the plan is bona fide, the commitment is enforceable, and the credit is computed per hour with annualization where it applies.

Crediting the full monthly premium to project hours when the worker also worked private jobs that month.

Column 6C, cash paid in lieu of fringe

Total hours for the week times the hourly cash fringe. Every hour, including overtime hours, at the plain hourly amount.

Fringe is owed on all hours worked. Cash in lieu is wages: it is in the worker's gross and paycheck, and box 6 on page 2 certifies the wages were paid in full.

40 hours times the fringe on a 44-hour week. The 4 overtime hours are owed fringe too.

Column 7A, gross amount earned on this project

Straight hours times the straight rate, plus overtime hours times the overtime rate, plus column 6C. Plan contributions (6B) are not wages and are not in this figure.

The form requires gross for the project separately from gross for the week so a worker with other work can be checked against the determination for the project hours alone.

A gross that does not compute from the row because it includes a bonus, per diem, or a rounding difference from the payroll system.

Column 7B, gross for all work this week

The worker's total gross for the payroll week from all jobs. Equal to 7A when the worker only worked this project.

Deductions and net pay on this form relate to the whole paycheck, so the whole gross has to be shown for the arithmetic to tie.

Column 8, deductions

Federal withholding, FICA, and other deductions. Every "other" deduction is identified in the remarks on page 2.

Copeland Act regulations, 29 CFR part 3: only deductions listed in 3.5 may be taken without approval; others need Secretary of Labor approval under 3.6. All deductions are certified in box 6 on page 2.

An unlabeled "other" amount. Reviewers cannot tell a 401(k) contribution from a tool charge.

Column 9, net wages paid for week

Column 7B minus the total of column 8. The amount on the paycheck.

Ties the form to the actual payment. Investigators compare it to the check or deposit record.

Date

The date the statement is signed. Same as or after the last day of the payroll week.

The statement is made as of the date signed; a date before the week ended certifies pay that had not happened.

Name and title of signer

The person signing, and their title. Must be the contractor or subcontractor, or the employee who supervises payment of wages.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B): the statement is signed by the contractor or subcontractor or their agent who pays or supervises the payment of the persons employed under the contract.

A project manager or estimator with no connection to payroll.

The opening statement

One sentence, printed on the form: the signer paid or supervised payment of the laborers and mechanics on the project for the period, and certifies the six numbered statements that follow.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B): the statement is signed by the contractor or subcontractor, or by the person who pays or supervises payment of the workers. The wording is the Department's; a portal or software may not change it.

A prime signing a sub's statement. It certifies facts the prime cannot know.

Box 1: payroll correct and complete, full rates paid

Always checked. The payroll is correct and complete, and every worker was paid at least the wage and fringe rates in the determination for the work actually performed, counting credit for bona fide plan contributions.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(C)(1) and (3). This is the certification that makes an underpayment on page 1 a false statement on page 2.

Checking it with a rate below the determination on page 1. Reviewers compare column 6A plus fringe to the determination line by line.

Box 2: records complete and available

Always checked. The regular payrolls and basic records for the period are complete and accurate and will be produced on request from the agency or the Department of Labor.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(i): the records the contractor must keep for 3 years after the work is completed, including full names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Social Security numbers, classifications, hours, rates, deductions, and fringe plan documents.

Treating the certified payroll as the record. It is a weekly transmittal; the timecards and payroll register behind it are what an investigator asks for.

Box 3: classifications are the work performed

Always checked. Each classification on page 1 is the work that worker actually did that week.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(C)(2). A worker who did two crafts appears on two rows with the same entry number, each with its own hours and rate.

Classifying by title or pay grade instead of by the work. A journeyworker electrician pulling wire all week is an electrician; the same person digging trench is a laborer for those hours.

Box 4: apprentices

Checked when any RA appears on page 1. Certifies each apprentice is registered in a program registered with the Office of Apprenticeship or a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency, and lists the program name, OA or SAA, and the classification.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(4). Anyone not individually registered is owed the full journeyworker rate, whatever they are called on the job.

An RA on page 1 with an empty program table, or a program in another state that does not match the classification.

Box 5: fringe benefits and plan credit

Checked when fringe was paid, in cash, to plans, or both. If any amount appears in column 6B, the table under it lists each plan: name, type, plan number, funded or unfunded, and the hourly credit claimed for each worker.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(i)(C) and 5.26 to 5.31: credit is taken only for bona fide plans, and an unfunded plan needs Department approval under 5.28. Cash in lieu is wages in column 6C and needs no plan entry.

Credit in 6B with no plan listed, or a plan listed whose hourly credit was not annualized across all the worker's hours.

Box 6: full wages paid, no improper deductions

Always checked. Every worker was paid the full weekly wages earned, with no rebates or deductions other than those permitted by 29 CFR part 3.

The Copeland Act, 29 CFR part 3: only the deductions in 3.5 may be taken without approval; anything else needs approval under 3.6. Every "other" deduction in column 8 is identified in the remarks.

An unlabeled "other" amount in column 8, or a deduction for the employer's own tools, uniforms, or damage.

Remarks

Identify "other" deductions by worker and type. Note pending conformances. Note a revised payroll and what changed. Note restitution paid.

Remarks are part of the certified record. Anything a reviewer would otherwise have to call about goes here.

Signature

An original handwritten signature, or a legally valid electronic signature. Not a pasted image of a signature.

29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B) permits electronic signatures that are legally valid. A pasted image is neither wet ink nor an electronic signature with an audit trail.

The penalty statement

Printed on the form: willful falsification may subject the contractor or subcontractor to civil or criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 31 U.S.C. 3729.

This is what makes the statement "certified". A false statement is a federal crime, and the False Claims Act carries treble damages.