Certified Payroll
Understand Certified Payroll requirements and compliance for government-funded construction projects.
Overview
The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 set wage rate requirements on government-funded construction projects. All contractors and subcontractors who work on government construction contracts and federally-assisted construction projects over $2000 must submit weekly-Certified Payroll reports to ensure government compliance.
A Certified Payroll report is a specifically formatted payroll report consisting of two sections for each job:
- Certified Payroll Report — containing information by job and day of who worked on the job, how many hours each day, the rate per hour per, etc.
- Statement of Compliance — containing legal statements and the original signature of a company official.
Since 1931, many states have enacted similar laws. Some states follow federal guidelines, others created their own specific requirements, and some have multiple reporting requirements. To learn the specifics of each state, please reference the state’s Department of Labor website.
Check Support
Currently, Check does not directly support Certified Payrolls or the creation of Certified Payroll reports. However, you are able to create a report meeting Certified Payroll requirements by leveraging data already on hand from running payroll. Please see our Workaround section to learn more about what is required to support Certified Payrolls compliantly.
Workaround
Important: Here, we outline the federal requirements for Form WH-347 (PDF). To ensure state compliance, please check the appropriate state requirements for Certified Payroll reporting, as there may be additional requirements.
As a reminder, Check does not have the ability to create weekly Certified Payroll Reports. In this workaround, we will guide you through the necessary requirements for creating a Certified Payroll report in your system.
There are a few requirements necessary to facilitate Certified Payrolls compliantly. The first is setting your pay schedule to weekly, the second is creating a weekly report with the information outlined below in the ‘Reporting’ section, and finally, you must ensure you track the date and hours worked per day as it is required for Column 4 of WH-347.
Certified Payrolls are required to process weekly to generate the report accurately. Ensure the pay schedule is set with weekly check dates for the employees working on Certified Payroll jobs or projects.
Setting up Earning Codes
When creating Certified Payroll reports, you must identify a worker’s “Work Classification” to ensure that only wages relevant to work performed on a government site are reported on Form WH-347.
You can leverage Check’s Earning Code API [Guide, API Reference] to create these custom earnings.
These Earning Codes should include:
- Job Code
- Earning code `name`
- NOTE: This code appears on the Report in Project or Contract Number field.
- Description
- Earning code `name`
- NOTE: This description appears on the Report in Project and Location field.
- Address Lines (Optional)
- Earning code `metadata`
Example:
{
"id": "erc_pz0fmJeuVcaPb99N0nw9",
"company": "com_omSihPyKgr68wxFQ0xTn",
"type": "hourly",
"name": "Power Equipment - Bulldozer Group 3",
"metadata": {
"address": "..."
}
}Reporting
Partners can report Certified Payrolls using Form WH-347 (PDF) or create a Certified Payroll Report, which must provide the same information as Form WH-347. To create a Certified Payroll Report, please follow the instructions provided by the Department of Labor outlined below.
Note: These reports must be printed and signed by an authorized official at the company to certify accuracy. The person signing is subject to a fine/possible imprisonment if found reporting falsified/inaccurate data.
Partners must provide a weekly report that encompasses the following information:
- General Information
- Name of Contractor/Subcontractor (AKA the firm’s name)
- Address (AKA the firm’s address)
- Payroll Number (Beginning with the number "1", list the payroll number for the submission)
- For Week ending (List the work week ending date)
- Project and Location
- Project or Contract Number
- Column 1 - Name and Individual Identifying Number of Worker
- Department of Labor guidance: “Enter each worker's full name and an individual identifying number (e.g., last four digits of worker's social security number) on each weekly payroll submitted.”
- Column 2 - Number of Withholding Exemptions
- Department of Labor guidance: “This column is merely inserted for the employer's convenience and is not a requirement of Regulations, Part 3 and 5.”
- Column 3 - Work Classifications
- Department of Labor guidance: “List classification descriptive of work actually performed by each laborer or mechanic. Consult classification and minimum wage schedule set forth in contract specifications. If additional classifications are deemed necessary, see Contracting Officer or Agency representative. An individual may be shown as having worked in more than one classification provided an accurate breakdown or hours worked in each classification is maintained and shown on the submitted payroll by use of separate entries.”
- Column 4 - Hours worked
- Department of Labor guidance: “List the day and date and straight time and overtime hours worked in the applicable boxes. On all contracts subject to the Contract Work Hours Standard Act, enter hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week as "overtime".”
- Column 5 - Total
- Column 6 - Rate of Pay (Including Fringe Benefits)
- Department of Labor guidance: “In the "straight time" box for each worker, list the actual hourly rate paid for straight time worked, plus cash paid in lieu of fringe benefits paid. When recording the straight time hourly rate, any cash paid in lieu of fringe benefits may be shown separately from the basic rate. For example, "$12.25/.40" would reflect a $12.25 base hourly rate plus $0.40 for fringe benefits.”
- Column 7 - Gross Amount Earned
- Department of Labor guidance: “Enter gross amount earned on this project. If part of a worker's weekly wage was earned on projects other than the project described on this payroll, enter in column 7 first the amount earned on the Federal or Federally assisted project and then the gross amount earned during the week on all projects, thus "$163.00/$420.00" would reflect the earnings of a worker who earned $163.00 on a Federally assisted construction project during a week in which $420.00 was earned on all work.”
- Column 8 - Deductions
- Department of Labor guidance: “All deductions must be in accordance with the provisions of the Copeland Act Regulations, 29 C.F.R., Part 3. If an individual worked on other jobs in addition to this project, show actual deductions from his/her weekly gross wage, and indicate that deductions are based on his gross wages.”
- Column 9 - Net Wages Paid for Week
Resources
Last updated on October 30, 2025