On public-works jobs, certified payroll isn't paperwork you can catch up on later — the penalties are per worker, per day, and they compound while you're not looking. Here's the actual exposure, in plain English. (Informational only, not legal advice — penalty amounts change; verify current figures with the DIR or your attorney.)
Late or missing records — Labor Code 1776
Certified payroll records must be filed electronically with the DIR (and produced on request). If you're asked for records and don't provide them within 10 days, the statutory penalty has historically run $100 per calendar day, per worker, until you comply. A five-person crew, three weeks late, is not a rounding error — and the Labor Commissioner doesn't need to prove harm, just absence.
Underpaying prevailing wage — Labor Code 1775
Pay below the applicable prevailing rate — even by an honest classification mistake — and you owe the wage difference plus a civil penalty of up to $200 per worker, per day of violation, at the Labor Commissioner's discretion. Your certified payrolls are the primary evidence: if the rate on the eCPR doesn't match the wage determination, the violation documents itself.
Withheld progress payments
The most common real-world consequence isn't a fine — it's your money stuck. Awarding bodies and primes routinely hold progress payments until every sub's certified payrolls are current. Miss two filings and your invoice ages while the GC's compliance officer waits. Many subs discover certified payroll matters the day a five-figure payment freezes.
Debarment
Willful or repeated violations can get a contractor debarred from bidding public works in California — typically one to three years. For a sub whose book of business is public jobs, that's existential.
Federal jobs raise the stakes
On Davis-Bacon work, the WH-347's Statement of Compliance is signed under penalty of federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1001 — false statements). Errors get payments withheld; falsification is criminal. Arithmetic that doesn't add up (hours × rate ≠ gross, deductions that don't sum) is the fastest way to draw a closer look.
The boring way to stay clean
- File every week, including idle ones — a statement of non-performance for no-work weeks keeps the record unbroken.
- Match classifications to the wage determination exactly, and split lines when a worker works two crafts.
- Let software do the arithmetic. Most flagged filings are math errors, not fraud.
- Keep your numbering sequential — payroll #1 on week one, no gaps.
eCPR Express generates schema-valid DIR eCPR XML and the official WH-347 with every total computed and validated — free during launch, entirely in your browser.