Davis Bacon Related Acts

The prevailing wage rates are determined each year by the Division of Labor every first week of January for Building, Heavy, and Highway construction projects. Each trade or job classification has its own prevailing wage rate. The schedule of rates are posted in the Secretary of State’s website, www.wvsos.org.

The prevailing wage rate is based on the job or trade classification of the work performed. Location of the project and type of the project are also considerations for the prevailing wage rate determination.

The prevailing wage rate is made up of two parts: the basic hourly rate and the fringe benefit rate. The two rates are added together to determine the total prevailing wage rate.

If you do not provide your prevailing wage workers with fringe benefits, you must pay them the determined fringe benefit rate as part of their wages. Your prevailing wage workers will therefore receive the basic hourly rate plus the fringe benefit rate.

A fringe benefit is a benefit given by the employer to a prevailing wage worker by company policy. It can be in the form of holiday pay, vacation pay, health insurance, bona fide pension plans, and others. Fringe benefit plans must be authorized by the employee so that it can be used as a credit against the fringe benefit part of the prevailing wage rate. Workers compensation, unemployment premiums and social security are not considered as fringe benefits.
You can calculate the monetary equivalent of a qualified fringe benefit by dividing the annual cost of the benefit by 2080 hours for each prevailing wage worker.

Overtime incurred by prevailing wage workers are paid at 1.5 times the basic hourly rate. Overtime is incurred when the worker has worked beyond forty hours in a workweek. The fringe benefit portion is still paid as it is, regardless of the number of hours worked by the employee.

All workmen in prevailing wage projects must be paid with the prevailing wage rate for the type of work performed, regardless if they are paid hourly, or if they receive a regular salary. This is with the exception for sole proprietors. To qualify as a sole proprietor, you must be registered for sole proprietorship with the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue.

Submission of certified payroll record on a weekly basis is usually required by the federal government or the general contractor for the duration of the construction project. They are also used for prevailing wage investigations, as they contain the necessary information required under the prevailing wage statute