The WH-347 Certified Payroll, Line by Line

The WH-347 is the U.S. Department of Labor’s standard form for weekly certified payrolls on Davis-Bacon construction. The form is published by the Wage and Hour Division and is used by federal contractors, subcontractors at every tier, and contractors on Davis-Bacon Related Acts projects across most of the federal-funded construction landscape. Some agencies and some state-level prevailing wage programs use modified versions or accept agency-specific equivalents, but the WH-347 is the canonical reference.

The form is filed weekly for every workweek any covered work is performed on the project. The filing is required even when the worker counts are small, even when the dollar amounts are small, and even when the scope is incidental to a much larger non-covered effort. The WH-347 is also used to report “no work” weeks: when a contractor is on the project but has not performed covered work during a particular workweek, the contractor still files a WH-347 marked as a no-work week to maintain the continuous record.

The form is filed through the channel the contracting agency specifies. On federal procurement, this is sometimes the agency’s own electronic system; on DOT-funded work, state DOTs often use platforms like LCPtracker; on smaller agencies, paper or PDF submission may still be the path. The contractor confirms the path during contract execution and integrates it into the project’s payroll workflow from the first workweek.

The top of the WH-347 carries the identifying information that ties the payroll to a specific contract and workweek. The header fields are mechanical but errors here are common and produce findings even when the underlying payroll is correct.

Contractor name and address

The legal name of the contractor (or subcontractor, when filed by a sub) and the principal business address. The name has to match the contract; an LLC named on the contract cannot be reported under a parent corporation’s name on the WH-347. Subcontractor filings show the sub’s name and address, with the prime listed separately.

Payroll number

Sequential payroll numbers run from 1 onward across the contractor’s tenure on the project, with the final payroll marked as “final”. The numbering convention is what lets reviewers detect missing weeks: a project with 30 weekly payrolls expects payroll numbers 1 through 30, and a gap signals either a missed filing or a no-work week that was not reported.

Workweek ending date

The last day of the workweek being reported. A consistent workweek convention (Sunday through Saturday is most common; some contractors use Monday through Sunday) runs across the project. Switching workweek conventions mid-project produces gaps and overlaps that surface immediately in audit.

Project information

The project name and location, the contract number, and the project’s identification within the agency’s tracking system. The information has to match the contract documents; minor variation in project names is not catastrophic but consistency across weekly filings is the standard.

The body of the WH-347 lists each worker who performed covered work during the week. Each worker gets a row, and the columns capture the information needed to demonstrate compliance with the wage determination.

Worker name and identifying information

The worker’s name appears in column 1. Recent versions of the form ask for the last four digits of the Social Security number rather than the full SSN, in line with privacy practice. The same worker is reported on the same row each week to support continuity of record across the project’s tenure.

Withholding exemptions

The number of withholding exemptions claimed by the worker. The field exists for tax-reporting purposes and is filled from the worker’s W-4. Most contractors carry this through automatically from the payroll system; manual reporting can introduce errors when a worker’s W-4 status changes mid-project.

Work classification

The classification under which the worker is being paid for the work performed during the week. The classification has to match a classification on the project’s wage determination, and has to reflect the work the worker actually performed, not the worker’s job title or trade affiliation. Apprentices are reported with the apprentice classification and the program registration. Workers performing more than one classification during the week are reported on multiple rows, one per classification.

Hours by day

Columns for each day of the workweek capture the hours worked. Straight-time hours and overtime hours are reported separately, with overtime calculated under the applicable overtime rules (the Fair Labor Standards Act for federal work, sometimes layered with state overtime requirements where they impose higher standards). Total hours for the week is the sum.

Rate of pay

The hourly rate paid to the worker, broken into base rate and fringe rate columns. The base rate has to equal or exceed the wage determination’s base rate for the classification. The fringe rate has to equal or exceed the wage determination’s fringe rate, with the contractor’s fringe-payment method (cash, plan contributions, or both) reflected in the reporting.

Gross amount earned and net amount paid

The gross amount earned for the week (including base wages, fringe paid in cash where applicable, and overtime premium) and the net amount paid after deductions. Deductions are itemized in the deductions columns: tax withholding, voluntary deductions, and other authorized deductions. The deductions have to comply with Copeland Act anti-kickback requirements; deductions for the contractor’s benefit beyond what the regulation allows produce findings.

The Statement of Compliance is the back of the WH-347 (or Form WH-348 when filed separately) and is the part of the filing that carries legal weight. The statement is signed by the contractor’s authorized representative and certifies under penalty of perjury that the payroll is accurate, that all required wages were paid, that no kickbacks were taken, that no employees worked in excess of the permitted overtime hours without proper compensation, and that the fringe benefit information is correct.

Authorized signature

The signature has to come from a person authorized to bind the firm. On most contractors, this is an officer or a designated payroll/compliance representative who has signing authority for federal compliance documents. The authorization should be documented internally so that the signing path is clear and the signer understands the legal effect of the certification.

Fringe benefit method

The Statement of Compliance includes a section where the contractor identifies the fringe benefit method: cash payment to workers, contributions to bona fide fringe benefit plans, or a combination. The method reported has to match the actual practice and has to be consistent across weekly filings. Switching methods mid-project requires documentation of the change.

Penalty of perjury

The signature is under penalty of perjury, which is not boilerplate. False certifications can produce criminal liability under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 in addition to the civil back-wage and debarment exposure under Davis-Bacon itself. Contractors who treat the certification as a routine signature without reviewing the underlying payroll first are exposing the signer to personal liability. The standard practice is for the signer to review the payroll for completeness and compliance before signing, not to sign on autopilot.

The patterns that surface in DOL audit findings repeat across contractors and across projects. Most are mechanical, and most are preventable with disciplined weekly review.

Misclassification

A worker performing electrical installation reported under a lower-rate classification (laborer, helper, or apprentice when not in a registered program). Misclassification is the most common audit finding and produces the largest back-wage exposure when sustained across multiple workers and weeks. The fix is real-time classification tracking by the foreman or superintendent, not retroactive classification at payroll time.

Math errors

Hours per day not summing to the weekly total. Hourly rate times hours not matching the gross amount earned. Gross minus deductions not matching the net paid. Math errors produce findings independently of any underlying compliance issue, and they erode the credibility of the rest of the filing.

Missing classifications

Workers who performed covered work during the week not reported at all on the WH-347, or reported with classifications missing. Missing workers usually trace to crews who were on-site briefly (a delivery, a one-day installation, a punch-list visit) where the field team did not flag the work for inclusion on the payroll.

Unsigned compliance statements

The Statement of Compliance not signed, signed by a person without authority, or signed but not dated. The Statement is the legal anchor of the filing; without a valid signature, the filing does not satisfy the certification requirement. Some contractors automate the certification path through their payroll software; others require manual signing each week. Either approach works as long as the signing actually happens before submission.

Apprentice ratio violations

More apprentices on the project than the registered program’s ratio allows. The excess hours are subject to the journeyman rate retroactively. Tracking the ratio in real time is the only path that prevents the back-wage exposure from accumulating.

Subcontractor filings missing or incomplete

The prime is responsible for collecting, reviewing, and submitting subcontractor certified payrolls. Subs that file late, file incomplete payrolls, or skip weeks expose the prime to liability for the sub’s non-compliance. The prime’s review function is substantive: completeness check against the sub’s scope on the project, math check, classification check, and Statement of Compliance verification.

Contractors who file clean WH-347s every week have built the discipline into the project’s payroll workflow rather than treating it as a separate compliance task. The patterns repeat.

Time tracking captures classification at the hour level. Foremen log not just the hours each worker put in but the classifications of work performed during those hours, which is the input the WH-347 needs. A worker who poured concrete in the morning and ran formwork in the afternoon is recorded with classification breakouts, not as a single classification for the day.

The payroll system is configured against the project’s wage determination at project start. Each classification is loaded with its base rate and fringe rate from the determination; the system flags any rate paid below the determination minimum before the payroll runs. This catches misclassifications before they reach the WH-347 and before they reach the worker’s paycheck.

A designated person on the project owns Davis-Bacon compliance and reviews each weekly payroll before the WH-347 is generated. The reviewer is checking for completeness (every covered worker reported), classification accuracy (work performed matches classification reported), math integrity, and Statement of Compliance signing. Subcontractor payrolls are reviewed substantively before submission to the agency.

Records are organized to support audit response from the start. Time records, daily logs, apprenticeship documentation, fringe benefit plan records, and the underlying payroll detail are retained per 29 CFR Part 5 and accessible if WHD requests them. A contractor whose records are scattered across three systems is exposed to bad audit outcomes even when the underlying compliance is sound.

On the bid side, the WH-347 filing path, the wage determination, and the apprenticeship rules surface in the bid response as part of the broader compliance load. The ScalaBid Submission Packageon Davis-Bacon work captures the prevailing wage clauses in the compliance matrix and the certified payroll filing path, posting requirements, and any state overlays in the action checklist. The package surfaces the requirements; the contractor’s payroll discipline carries them through execution.