Notice2024-27720
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 27, 2024
Issuing agencies
Labor Department
Abstract
The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Wage and Hour Division (WHD)-sponsored information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Public comments on the ICR are invited.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 229 (Wednesday, November 27, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 27, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 93664-93665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-27720]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Wage and Hour
Division (WHD)-sponsored information collection request (ICR) to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). Public
comments on the ICR are invited.
DATES: The OMB will consider all written comments that the agency
receives on or before December 27, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this information
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nora Hernandez by telephone at 202-
693-8633, or by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#793d363526292b3826292c3b35303a391d1615571e160f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e2a6adaebdb2b0a3bdb2b7a0aeaba1a2868d8ecc858d94">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Copeland Act requires contractors and
subcontractors performing work on federally financed or assisted
construction contracts to furnish weekly a statement on the wages paid
each covered worker during the prior week. See 40 U.S.C. 3145; 29 CFR
3.3(b). This Copeland Act provision specifically requires the
regulations to ``include a provision that each contractor and
subcontractor each week must furnish a statement on the wages paid each
worker during the prior week.'' This requirement is implemented by 29
CFR 3.3 and 3.4 and the standard Davis-Bacon contract clauses set forth
at 29 CFR 5.5. The regulation at 29 CFR 5.5 (a)(3)(ii)(A) (``Frequency
and method of submission'') requires contractors to submit weekly a
copy of all payrolls to the federal agency contracting for or financing
the construction project. If the agency is not a party to the contract,
the contractor will submit the payrolls to the applicant, sponsor, or
owner, as the case may be, for transmission to the contracting agency.
This provision requires that the payrolls submitted shall set out
accurately and completely information required to be maintained under
29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B) (``Information required'').
The information that must be included in the weekly transmittals
includes the name of each covered worker; each worker's correct
classification(s) of work actually performed; hourly rates of wages
paid (including rates of contributions or costs anticipated for bona
fide fringe benefits or cash equivalents thereof of the types described
in 40 U.S.C. 3141(2)(B) of the Davis-Bacon Act); daily and weekly
number of hours actually worked in total and on each covered contract;
deductions made; and actual wages paid. See 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(i)(B); 29
CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B). The weekly transmittals also must include an
individually identifying number for each employee (e.g., the last four
digits of the employee's Social Security number). See 29 CFR
5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B).
The provision at 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(B) also states what must not
be included in the weekly transmittal. The weekly transmittal must not
include workers' full social security numbers, last known addresses,
telephone numbers, and email addresses. That information must be
recorded and maintained by the contractors as part of the record-
keeping provisions in the regulations at 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(i)(B), but it
must not be included in the weekly transmittals.
The regulations at 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(C) and 29 CFR 3.3(b)
require each contractor to furnish weekly a signed ``Statement of
Compliance'' accompanying the payroll indicating the payrolls are
correct and complete and that each covered worker has been paid not
less than the proper Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage rate for the work
performed.
The required weekly payroll information may be submitted in any
form desired. The information collection request that is the subject of
this notice, Optional Form WH-347, is designed to include fields for
all of the necessary information so as to satisfy the regulatory and
contractual requirements. The weekly submission of a properly executed
certification, with the prescribed language set forth on page 2 of
Optional Form WH-347, satisfies the requirement for submission of the
required ``Statement of Compliance.'' 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(C).
In addition to the weekly transmittal requirements, the regulations
contain separate record retention requirements that require the
retention of the weekly
[[Page 93665]]
transmittals themselves as well as a broader subset of documents and
information. Regulations 29 CFR 3.4(b) and 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(G) require
contractors to maintain copies of these transmitted weekly certified
payrolls for three years after all the work on the prime contract is
completed. The record retention provision at 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(i)
requires contractors performing work on projects subject to the Davis-
Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) to retain the address, telephone number,
email address, and social security number of each covered worker, in
addition to all of the worker-specific information that must be
included on the weekly certified payroll. In addition, whenever a
contractor seeks to provide a portion of its required fringe benefits
though an unfunded plan (as described in 29 CFR 5.5(a)(1)(v)), the
contractor must maintain records showing that the commitment to provide
such benefits is enforceable, that the plan or program is financially
responsible, that the plan or program has been communicated in writing
to the laborers or mechanics affected, and the costs anticipated or the
actual cost incurred in providing such benefits. See 29 CFR
5.5(a)(3)(i)(C). Contractors employing apprentices or trainees under
approved programs also must maintain written evidence of the
registration of apprenticeship programs and certification of trainee
programs, the registration of the apprentices and trainees, and the
ratios and wage rates prescribed in the applicable programs. Id. Sec.
5.5(a)(3)(i)(D). 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(iii) provides that contractors and
subcontractors must maintain copies of covered contracts, subcontracts,
and related documents.
The Department periodically reviews its information collection
requests to ensure that they are necessary and sufficient to
effectively and efficiently fulfill the Department's statutory
directive to oversee and enforce the Davis-Bacon Act. Substantive edits
to the WH-347 form were last made in 2011. The Department reviewed the
current form WH-347 and proposed several edits. For additional
substantive information about this ICR, see the related notice
published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2024 (89 FR 70670).
Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the
Department, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimates of the burden and
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
This information collection is subject to the PRA. A Federal agency
generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information, and
the public is generally not required to respond to an information
collection, unless the OMB approves it and displays a currently valid
OMB Control Number. In addition, notwithstanding any other provisions
of law, no person shall generally be subject to penalty for failing to
comply with a collection of information that does not display a valid
OMB Control Number. See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.
DOL seeks PRA authorization for this information collection for
three (3) years. OMB authorization for an ICR cannot be for more than
three (3) years without renewal. The DOL notes that information
collection requirements submitted to the OMB for existing ICRs receive
a month-to-month extension while they undergo review.
Agency: DOL-WHD.
Title of Collection: Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll.
OMB Control Number: 1235-0008.
Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Farms.
Total Estimated Number of Respondent: 11,310,112.
Total Estimated Number of Responses: 122,936.
Total Estimated Annual Time Burden: 10,556,105 hours.
Total Estimated Annual Other Costs Burden: $0.
(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D))
Nora Hernandez,
PRA Department Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-27720 Filed 11-26-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-27-P
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