Certified Payroll for Environmental Contractors in Washington

For a lot of Washington environmental service companies, public agencies are some of the best customers. Cities need catch basins and stormwater vaults cleaned. Counties and ports need hydro-excavation around utilities. School districts and transit agencies need spill response on call.

That work often comes with Washington prevailing wage requirements, and with prevailing wage comes certified payroll. If your payroll lives on paper timesheets and a spreadsheet, the monthly filing can take more time than the jobs themselves.

The basics: RCW 39.12 and L&I

Washington's prevailing wage law is Chapter 39.12 RCW, administered by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). On public works projects, workers must be paid at least the prevailing rate of wage for their trade, or worker classification, in the county where the work is performed. L&I publishes journey-level rates by trade and county, and apprentice rates by trade, county, and apprenticeship program. (L&I: Prevailing wage rates)

Using the correct worker classification matters. L&I's scope-of-work determinations decide which trade a task falls under, and that decides the rate.

Which rates apply to your contract

Under WAC 296-127-011:

• L&I publishes rates on the first business day of February and August, and they take effect 30 days later.
• For most bid contracts, the rates in effect on the bid due date apply for the life of the contract.
• If a bid contract is not awarded within six months of the bid due date, the rates in effect on the award date apply instead.
• For contracts not awarded by bid, the rates in effect when the contract is executed apply.
• Under job order contracts, each work order uses the rates in effect when that work order is issued.

So two crews doing the same work in the same county can be on different rates if they are working under different contracts. Your payroll system has to know which contract each hour belongs to.

What certified payroll has to show

RCW 39.12.120 requires each contractor, subcontractor, and employer on a public works project to keep payroll records that show, for every worker:

• Full name, address, and Social Security number
• Trade or worker classification
• Straight-time and overtime rates, and the hourly rate of benefits
• Hours worked each day and each week
• Gross wages, itemized deductions and withholdings, and net pay

Those certified payroll records have to be filed with L&I at least once a month, through L&I's online system or in another format L&I approves. You also have to keep the records for three years after the awarding agency accepts the project.

Intents and affidavits

Certified payroll is separate from the other two prevailing wage filings. Before work starts, each contractor files a Statement of Intent to Pay Prevailing Wages with L&I. After its work is finished, it files an Affidavit of Wages Paid. Both are filed through L&I's online Prevailing Wage Intents & Affidavits system, and the agency that awarded the contract generally will not release retainage until the affidavits are approved.

Federally funded projects can add Davis-Bacon requirements on top of the state rules, with their own wage determinations and weekly payroll reports. If you take that work, plan for both.

Where it breaks down for vac truck and environmental crews

Construction contractors usually have one crew on one site for weeks. Environmental crews do not. One operator might do a city stormwater contract in the morning, a private industrial cleanout after lunch, and an emergency spill call in the evening. That causes a few problems:

• Mixed days. Prevailing wage applies to the public works hours, not the whole shift. Hours have to be split by job.
• Drive time and yard time. Time between sites, at the yard, and at the disposal facility all has to land in the right place.
• Classifications by task. The same person can be classified differently depending on the work they are doing.
• Monthly crunch. If timesheets are on paper, someone has to rebuild every public works hour from tickets at month end and re-key it into L&I's system.

The fix is the same as for manifests: record time against the job when it happens, and build payroll from that record.

How Sitehound Dispatch helps

Sitehound Dispatch ties time tracking to every job on the dispatch board, so the hours behind certified payroll come from the same record as the work order and the invoice.

• Timecards with clock in and clock out per job, including on-site and drive time
• Timesheet approval and locking before payroll runs
• Certified payroll and prevailing wage support for public works jobs
• Payroll reports, a payroll calendar, and utilization in one place
• Billed vs. paid labor recovery, so you can see whether the hours you pay are making it onto invoices

Completed jobs move into a ready-to-bill queue, and invoicing connects to QuickBooks, so the office is not entering the same job into three systems.

Built and supported in Bellevue, Washington, Dispatch is sized for operators running 5 to 50 trucks.

Schedule a Sitehound Dispatch demo and bring a recent public works job. We will show you how its hours would flow from the timecard to certified payroll.

This article is general information, not legal or payroll advice. Prevailing wage obligations depend on your contract and the work performed. Check with Washington L&I's Prevailing Wage program or your advisor.