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Certified Payroll is the documentation a contractor is required to keep on a weekly basis and submit to the awarding body. These documents are signed under penalty of perjury and detail the workers, classification, hours worked and rate of pay on the public works project. The typical form used for this purpose is WH-357. A copy of this form is included in the Appendix section of this book. The form and instructions can also be downloaded from the DOL website. Please note that the form was update din 2009.Throw away your old forms. Certified payrolls may be submitted on alternative forms and in alternative format so long as all of the required information is provided, including the certification. Certified payrolls are called that because they must be signed under penalty of perjury certifying that the information contained on such forms are true and correct. And yes, contractors do get prosecuted for perjury (a crime) if payrolls are falsified. A contractor does not escape liability if the contractor has the company receptionist sign the forms. If is not the receptionist that goes to jail, but rather the contractor who knowingly had the payrolls falsified.  The contractor must maintain basic payroll records during the course of the work and preserve them for three years.Such records shall contain:

• Name of each worker

• Address

• Social Security number

• His or her correct classification

• Hourly rates of wages paid

• Daily and weekly number of hours worked

• Deductions made and actual wages paid

Contractors employing apprentices or trainees under approved program must have written evidence of the registration of the apprenticeship program and certification of the trainee program, copies of the individual registration forms of the apprentices and trainees, and written evidence of the applicable ratios and wage rates.

The information above is brought to you by: Deborah Wilder’s “What Every Contractor Should Know About Prevailing Wages”