Federal construction compliance guides
Practical guides to weekly certified payroll on Davis-Bacon construction, each built from the U.S. Department of Labor WH-347 form and its instructions and linked to its source, plus a guide to the EM 385-1-1 edition that governs a given contract.
Certified payroll basics for federal construction
What a weekly certified payroll is, who must file it, and why it is a weekly duty on every Davis-Bacon job.
The last-four Social Security number rule on the weekly transmittal
29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B) explains why the certified payroll carries only the last four digits, and why our preflight refuses a full nine-digit number.
The statement of compliance on a WH-347
The signed declarations at the foot of the certified payroll, and why a missing or unsigned statement is a frequent rejection.
Overtime and hours on the certified payroll
How straight time and overtime hours are shown on the WH-347, and the checks the preflight runs.
When an agency requires a portal for certified payroll
29 CFR 5.5(a)(3) lets an agency or prime require an electronic system, and requires that they still permit other methods when a contractor cannot use it.
Common reasons a certified payroll is rejected
The clerical and format problems that send a weekly certified payroll back, and which of them a preflight can catch.
Which EM 385-1-1 edition governs your contract?
EM 385-1-1 is contract-specific: the edition in effect on the date of solicitation governs, existing contracts keep the previous edition until completion, and USACE’s own obvious download link served the superseded 2014 manual.