Certified payroll

What does a certified payroll report contain?

A certified payroll report lists each worker on the covered project for the week with the information the regulation requires, plus a signed Statement of Compliance. The workers' full Social Security numbers and contact details are left off the copy that is submitted; a number such as the last four digits can identify each person.

• The classification each worker actually performed.
• Daily and weekly hours worked on the covered contract.
• Hourly wage rate, with fringe benefits or cash paid in lieu of them.
• Deductions and the wages actually paid.

The Statement of Compliance certifies that the payroll and the records behind it are correct and complete, that each worker was paid the full weekly wages earned with only permitted deductions, and that each worker was paid not less than the applicable wage rates and fringe benefits for the classification actually performed.

Who submits certified payroll, and when?

Contractors and subcontractors on covered work submit certified payroll weekly, and the prime contractor is responsible for making sure subcontractors' reports are submitted. The report goes to the contracting agency or, where the agency is not a party to the contract, to the applicant, sponsor or owner that keeps the records.

Frequency

Each week in which covered work was performed.

Records kept

Payrolls and basic records are kept during the work and for 3 years after all work on the prime contract is completed.

Format

The Department of Labor's Form WH-347 is optional. Any format with the same information and the same signed statement works. See WH-347.

What does certified payroll look like for a crew?

A mechanical contractor on a federally funded school project has two journeymen and one apprentice on site Monday through Thursday. For that week it submits one report listing the three people by classification, with hours for each day, rates, deductions and net pay, and the signed statement from the person certifying it.

The hours column is the part most often disputed, since it must match the records behind it. That is why day-by-day hours by worker and jobsite matter more here than on a job with no reporting duty.