Certified payroll isn't only for the weeks you work. Once you start on a California public-works project (and on many federal jobs, per contract terms), agencies expect an unbroken weekly record from your first week to your last. For a week with no work on that project, that record is a statement of non-performance.
Why it matters
- Gaps look like missing payrolls. A labor compliance officer can't tell "we didn't work" from "they didn't file." Gaps trigger inquiries, and under Labor Code 1776 the penalty for failing to provide records runs $100 per worker per day.
- Payroll numbering stays sequential. Your payroll #7 should be the seventh week after you started, idle weeks included.
- Primes get held up too — awarding bodies often hold progress payments until every sub's records are current.
Filing in the California eCPR system
In the DIR's eCPR submission (online form or XML upload), a non-performance week is the same record with the statementOfNP flag set to true and no employee entries at all. Contractor and project information is still required, and you still sign the certification.
If you file by XML, the file still follows the normal naming convention ([last 4 of FEIN]_[Project ID]_[week ending MMDDYY].xml) — see our full eCPR XML guide.
On federal WH-347 projects
There's no dedicated DOL form; the convention is a WH-347 (or letter) marked "non-performance" for the week, keeping the payroll number sequence intact. Check your contracting agency's preference — some accept a single letter covering a known idle period.
The two-minute version
eCPR Express has a one-click non-performance mode: pick the project, set the week ending date, mark "no work performed," and download a valid eCPR XML (or WH-347 PDF) ready to submit. Free during launch, fully in-browser.