Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; Information Collections: Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll, 70670-70671 [2024-19482]

Agencies

• Wage and Hour Division
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 169 (Friday, August 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70670-70671]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19482]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Wage and Hour Division


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; 
Information Collections: Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll

AGENCY: Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department), is soliciting comments 
concerning a proposed revision of the information collection request 
(ICR) titled ``Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll.'' This comment request is 
part of continuing Departmental efforts to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (PRA). The PRA comment process helps to ensure that requested data 
can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and 
financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly 
understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents 
can be properly assessed. A copy of the proposed information collection 
request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this Notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addresses section below on or before October 29, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Control Number 1235-
0008, by either one of the following methods: Email: 
[email protected]. Mail, Hand Delivery, Courier: Division of 
Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, 
U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20210.
    Instructions: Please submit one copy of your comments by only one 
method. All submissions received must include the agency name and 
Control Number identified above for this information collection. 
Commenters are encouraged to transmit their comments electronically via 
email or to submit them by mail early. Comments, including any personal 
information provided, become a matter of public record. They will also 
be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) approval of the information collection request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Waterman, Division of 
Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, 
U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-0406 (this is not a toll-
free number). Alternative formats of this notice, e.g., braille, 
audiotape, or other accessible formats, are available upon request by 
calling 1-866-487-9243. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a 
speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay 
services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    I. Background: The Davis-Bacon Act (DBA), as enacted in 1931 and 
subsequently amended, requires the payment of minimum prevailing wages 
determined by the Department of Labor to laborers and mechanics working 
on federal contracts in excess of $2,000 for the construction, 
alteration, or repair, including painting and decorating, of public 
buildings and public works. See 40 U.S.C. 3141 et seq. Congress has 
also included the Davis-Bacon requirements in numerous other laws, 
known as the Davis-Bacon Related Acts (the Related Acts and, 
collectively with the Davis-Bacon Act, the DBRA), which provide federal 
assistance for construction projects through grants, loans, loan 
guarantees, insurance, and other methods.
    The Copeland Act (40 U.S.C. 3145) requires the Secretary of Labor 
to prescribe reasonable regulations for contractors and subcontractors 
engaged in construction work subject to Davis-Bacon labor standards. 
While the federal contracting or assistance-administering agencies have 
a primary responsibility for enforcement of these labor standards, 
Reorganization Plan Number 14 of 1950 assigns to the Secretary of Labor 
responsibility for developing government-wide policies, interpretations 
and procedures to be observed by the contracting and assisting 
agencies, in order to assure coordination of administration and 
consistency of DBRA enforcement. 15 FR 3176, reprinted as amended in 5 
U.S.C. app. 1.
    The Copeland Act provision cited above specifically requires the 
regulations to ``include a provision that each contractor and 
subcontractor each week must furnish a statement on the wages paid each 
employee 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, the information that is 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. 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).
    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 laborer or mechanic 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

[[Page 70671]]

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). Regulations 29 CFR 3.4(b) and 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(G) 
require contractors to maintain these certified payrolls for three 
years after all the work on the prime contract is completed.
    The Department is now proposing revisions to form WH-347, to 
simplify and clarify certain fields and to obtain more specific 
information about fringe benefits. The revisions also provide for check 
boxes and electronically fillable fields, which will provide for 
efficiency, and update the instructions for form WH-347.
    II. Review Focus: The Department of Labor is particularly 
interested in comments which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submissions of responses.
    III. Current Actions: The Department seeks approval to revise this 
information collection to ensure effective administration of the 
requirements governing the Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll.
    Type of Review: Revision.
    Agency: Wage and Hour Division.
    Title: Davis-Bacon Certified Payroll.
    OMB Control Number: 1235-0008.
    Agency Numbers: Form WH-347.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Total Estimated Respondents: 122,936.
    Total Annual responses: 11,310,112.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 10,556,105.
    Estimated Time per Response: 55 minutes to complete the WH-347 form 
or its equivalent plus 1 minute for recordkeeping (total of 56 minutes 
per form).
    Frequency: Weekly, during the course of a covered construction 
project.
    Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
    Total Burden Cost (operating/maintenance): $1,764,379.

    Dated: August 23, 2024.
Daniel Navarrete,
Director, Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation.
[FR Doc. 2024-19482 Filed 8-29-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-27-P