Connecticut Certified Payroll Requirements
Connecticut files monthly on its own form — WWS-CPI — and asks you to explain your fringe benefits in writing. Here's how CGS 31-53 works for a subcontractor.
Last updated July 2026
Connecticut differs from its neighbors in two ways that matter week to week. The filing is monthly, not weekly. And the state's form asks you to do something the federal WH-347 never does: explain your fringe benefits in writing, alongside the certification.
Who's covered: CGS 31-53
Connecticut's prevailing wage requirements come from Connecticut General Statutes section 31-53, administered by the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL), Wage and Workplace Standards Division. Covered public works contractors and subcontractors must pay the prevailing rate for the classification and locality, and must certify their payrolls to the contracting agency. Current forms, rate schedules, and guidance are published at portal.ct.gov/dol.
The form: WWS-CPI, filed monthly
Connecticut state projects use Form WWS-CPI — the Payroll Certification for Public Works Projects. Under CGS 31-53, certified payrolls with a statement of compliance shall be submitted monthly to the contracting agency.
Connecticut permits electronic recordkeeping and submission, and the WWS-CPI can be completed online — a meaningful convenience compared to states that still expect mailed paper. Confirm the accepted delivery method with your contracting agency, since individual agencies and primes can layer their own systems on top of the state's.
When you pull the form, take the complete package: both the Payroll Certification for Public Works Projects and the Certified Statement of Compliance. On the current form set, the Certified Statement of Compliance appears on the same page as the Fringe Benefits Explanation — which is why so many first-time Connecticut filers submit a payroll with no certification attached. They downloaded one page and stopped.
The fringe benefits explanation
This is the Connecticut-specific discipline worth building a habit around. The state doesn't just want a fringe number in a column; it wants an explanation of how the fringe obligation is satisfied — which plans, which contributions, what is paid in cash in lieu.
That is a good forcing function, because fringe shortfalls are the single most common prevailing-wage audit finding anywhere. If you cannot articulate on the form how a worker's base-plus-fringe package reaches the required total, that is usually a sign the package doesn't reach it. Our guide to certified payroll fringe benefits walks through how the credit works.
| Connecticut | Federal (Davis-Bacon) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cadence | Monthly | Weekly, within 7 days of the pay date |
| Form | WWS-CPI, plus Certified Statement of Compliance | WH-347 or equivalent |
| Goes to | The contracting agency | The contracting agency |
| Fringe | Written Fringe Benefits Explanation required | Fringe indicated via 4(a)/4(b) election |
| Electronic filing | Permitted; WWS-CPI can be completed online | Agency-dependent |
On-site obligations
Connecticut also expects visible compliance at the job site. Contractors must post the prevailing wage determinations conspicuously on the job site, and keep detailed payroll records available for inspection by CTDOL. The posting requirement is cheap to satisfy and routinely forgotten — and it is one of the first things an inspector notices, because it is visible from the gate before anyone opens a file.
Common Connecticut mistakes
- Downloading only half the form. The Certified Statement of Compliance sits with the Fringe Benefits Explanation. Submitting the payroll page alone leaves you uncertified.
- Filing weekly out of federal habit — or letting monthly slip to quarterly. CGS 31-53 says monthly, for the life of the work.
- Leaving the fringe explanation vague."Various benefits" is not an explanation. Name the plans and the contributions.
- Not posting the wage determination. A visible, easily fixed violation.
- Monthly filing, monthly records. The underlying payroll detail is weekly; the monthly certification is assembled from it.
- Multiplying fringe on overtime.Overtime is 1.5× the base rate plus straight-time fringe — the fringe is not multiplied.
Federal overlap
Connecticut projects with federal funding can carry Davis-Bacon obligations alongside CGS 31-53 — a weekly WH-347to the contracting agency running in parallel with the state's monthly WWS-CPI. Workers are owed the higher of the applicable rates. The contract documents name the funding sources; ask the agency or prime when it's unclear.
How Certiwage helps
Certiwage computes each week's payroll — gross, overtime at 1.5× the base rate plus straight-time fringe, deductions, net — and runs an explicit fringe shortfall checkcomparing your cash-plus-benefits package against the required rate. That check is the substance behind Connecticut's Fringe Benefits Explanation: if the numbers clear, you know what to write; if they don't, you find out before you certify rather than after.
On the federal side of a Connecticut job, Certiwage produces the WH-347 and Statement of Compliance directly. For the state filing, its weekly records give you the worker, classification, hours, rate, and deduction detail that WWS-CPI asks for. To be plain: Certiwage does not generate Form WWS-CPI — it produces the federal report and the correct underlying numbers.
Certiwage is a document-preparation tool, not legal advice, and is not affiliated with CTDOL or the U.S. Department of Labor. Confirm your project's requirements with the contracting agency. Compare regional rules in our Massachusetts and New York guides.
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