Davis-Bacon certified payroll and form WH-347

Each contractor and subcontractor "must submit weekly, for each week in which any DBA- or Related Acts-covered work is performed, certified payrolls." They go to the federal agency when it's a party to the contract. On a federally assisted job, they go to the applicant, sponsor or owner that keeps the records, for the federal agency. "The prime contractor is responsible for the submission of all certified payrolls by all subcontractors" (29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(A)).

An agency or prime "may permit or require contractors to submit certified payrolls through an electronic system," as long as it takes a legally valid electronic signature, keeps the records reachable for three years, and allows another method for contractors who can't use it. The requirement goes back to the Copeland Act, which DOL quotes as requiring contractors to "furnish a statement on the wages paid each employee during the prior week" (DOL, WH-347 instructions). Contracts of $2,000 or less are outside it (29 CFR 3.3(c)).

If the same electrician's fringe went into a health plan and a pension instead, 6C would be $0, 6B would carry the credit, and box 5 on page 2 would list each plan with its hourly amount. Credit for an unfunded plan, one the contractor pays for out of its own assets, needs DOL's "prior approval from the Department of Labor prior to claiming such credit as required in 29 CFR 5.28" (WH-347 instructions). The pay check tool runs the same arithmetic for any trade and county, and the overtime guide adds hours past 40.

When a worker splits the week between classifications, each gets its own row with the same entry number. Without an accurate breakdown, DOL says "the worker must be paid for all hours worked using the highest applicable prevailing wage rate (basic hourly rate and fringe benefits)."

Page 2 of WH-347 is the Statement of Compliance. Under 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(C) it certifies that the payroll is complete and the records are kept; that each worker, helpers and apprentices included, got the full weekly wages with no deductions beyond those allowed by part 3; and "that each laborer or mechanic has been paid not less than the applicable wage rates and fringe benefits or cash equivalents for the classification(s) of work actually performed."

On the form, "Boxes 1, 2, 3 and 6 (i.e., the first three boxes and the last box) always must be checked." Box 4 covers apprentices and box 5 the fringe credit. The statement "need not be notarized," but false certification can bring prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 31 U.S.C. 3729. The signature must be "an original handwritten signature or a legally valid electronic signature," and DOL adds that "photocopies or scanned copies of signatures do not satisfy this requirement" (WH-347 instructions).

Certified payrolls are kept during the work "and for a period of 3 years after all the work on the prime contract is completed" (29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(G)). The underlying payroll records hold more than the weekly copy: each worker's name, full Social Security number, address, phone and email, classification, rates including fringe contributions, "daily and weekly number of hours actually worked in total and on each covered contract; deductions made; and actual wages paid" (5.5(a)(3)(i)(B)). The contractor must hand over the full identifying details when the agency or DOL asks (5.5(a)(3)(iv)(C)).