Maryland Certified Payroll Requirements

Maryland is one of the more automated prevailing-wage states: certified payroll is filed electronically, directly to the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, on a fixed 14-day clock. The trade-off is that a system which knows exactly when your payroll period closed also knows exactly how late you are — and Maryland charges by the calendar day.

Who's covered: the $500,000 threshold

Maryland's prevailing wage law is codified in the State Finance and Procurement Article, Title 17, Subtitle 2. It requires contractors and subcontractors in the construction industry to pay prevailing wages on covered public works.

The threshold is high relative to most states: state-funded construction contracts valued at $500,000 or less generally fall outside the prevailing wage requirement. There is a separate and important route into coverage, though — school construction projects receiving at least 25% of their funding from the State. School work is a large share of Maryland public construction, and the percentage-of-funding test catches projects a contractor might otherwise assume were local-only.

The State Commissioner of Labor and Industry determines the prevailing wage for each public works project and job category from annual surveys of contractors and subcontractors, and has authority to enforce compliance.

You have to register first

This step catches new entrants. In Maryland, contractors, subcontractors, unions, trade associations, and sponsors must register in order to request a wage determination for a public works project, enter certified payroll reports, or participate in the annual prevailing wage survey.

Registration is not the filing — it is the prerequisite to filing. Set it up before your first payroll period closes rather than discovering the requirement on day 13 of a 14-day window.

One practical note published by the Department: users have reported difficulty completing the certified payroll online application in Google Chrome, and the Maryland Department of Labor recommends using a different browser. It is a small thing, but a submission that silently fails to go through at 4:55pm on the deadline is not a small thing.

The filing: electronic, within 14 days

Certified payrolls must be submitted to the Commissioner of Labor and Industry electronically within 14 days after the end of the payroll period. Contractors on state-funded construction projects covered by the Prevailing Wage Law electronically submit certified payroll statements indicating proper worker classification and wage for both straight time and overtime work.

	Maryland	Federal (Davis-Bacon)
Threshold	Over $500,000 state-funded; schools at 25%+ state funding	Over $2,000
Cadence	Within 14 days after the payroll period ends	Weekly, within 7 days of the pay date
Method	Electronic submission — registration required first	To the contracting agency; method varies
Goes to	Commissioner of Labor and Industry	The contracting agency
Late penalty	$10 per calendar day	Payment can be withheld

The late penalty: $10 per calendar day

Maryland attaches a specific, mechanical penalty to late filing: $10 per calendar day once more than 14 days have elapsed after the close of the payroll period.

Per payroll, that is modest — which is precisely the trap. It accrues per calendar day including weekends, it runs independently of whether the wages themselves were correct, and on a project with many payroll periods and several subcontractors it compounds quietly in the background. Contractors rarely notice this one until it is presented as a total.

Common Maryland mistakes

Not registering ahead of time. Registration gates wage determination requests and payroll entry both.
Assuming a school job is exempt. The 25% state-funding test pulls in projects that look locally funded.
Applying the federal $2,000 threshold.Maryland's state threshold is far higher — and applying the wrong one in either direction causes problems.
Treating the 14-day window as a deadline to aim at. It is the outer limit, and the penalty starts the day after.
Filing in Chrome and not confirming submission. The Department itself flags browser trouble — verify the payroll actually posted.
Reporting overtime without the correct base.Overtime is 1.5× the base rate plus straight-time fringe, and Maryland asks you to show straight time and overtime separately.

Federal overlap

Maryland projects carrying federal funds bring Davis-Bacon alongside Title 17 — a weekly WH-347to the contracting agency running against Maryland's 14-day electronic cycle. Workers are owed the higher of the applicable rates. Read your contract for the funding sources, and confirm the required submissions with the agency. The Prevailing Wage Unit can be reached at (410) 767-2342.

How Certiwage helps

Certiwage computes the week — gross, straight time and overtime separated, overtime at 1.5× the base rate plus straight-time fringe, deductions, and net — and runs a fringe shortfall checkbefore you certify. That straight-time/overtime split is exactly the breakdown Maryland's electronic submission asks you to show.

On the federal side of a Maryland job, Certiwage produces the WH-347and Statement of Compliance directly. For the state filing, its records give you per-worker classification, hours, rates, and deductions ready to enter into Maryland's system inside the 14-day window. Certiwage also sends weekly reminders, which is the practical defence against a penalty that accrues per calendar day.

Certiwage is a document-preparation tool, not legal advice, and is not affiliated with the Maryland Department of Labor or the U.S. Department of Labor — it does not file into Maryland's system on your behalf. Confirm your project's requirements with the Division of Labor and Industry. Compare cadences in our Minnesota and Pennsylvania guides.

Run one week through the free WH-347 builder to see the fringe and overtime math verified — no signup.