Certified payroll

Definition

The weekly wage report a public-works contractor files to prove pay.

Why It Matters

Public-works jobs pay above private rates and cost more to administer, and certified payroll is where that cost lives. Every week, for every worker on the job, the contractor files what was paid and at which classification, signed. Getting a classification wrong is not a clerical matter: it underpays a worker and is recoverable years later, which is why an unresolved wage claim belongs in the price. Ask who prepares these reports at the target, because at a lot of contractors the answer is one person nobody has ever backed up.

In numbers: Retainage on a public job commonly runs 5% to 10%, so a missed filing can leave $150,000 of a $2M contract sitting unpaid until the paperwork clears.