Ohio Certified Payroll Requirements
Ohio routes certified payroll through a named person — the Prevailing Wage Coordinator — on a schedule that isn't weekly. Here's how ORC 4115 works in practice.
Last updated July 2026
Ohio has a feature almost no other state shares: on every covered public improvement, the public authority must appoint a specific employee — the Prevailing Wage Coordinator — whose job includes receiving and maintaining your certified payrolls. Certified payroll in Ohio isn't filed into a portal or mailed to a department. It goes to a person, on a schedule that isn't weekly.
Who's covered: ORC Chapter 4115
Ohio prevailing wage comes from Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4115, which requires contractors and subcontractors on covered public improvements to pay no less than the prevailing rate for the locality and classification. Coverage turns on the public authority funding the work and on statutory dollar thresholds that are periodically adjusted — so confirm the current threshold and your project's status with the public authority rather than working from a figure you remember.
The Prevailing Wage Coordinator
Under ORC 4115.071, a public authority that awards a covered contract must designate and appoint one of its own employees to serve as Prevailing Wage Coordinator for the life of the contract. The appointment has a deadline attached: no later than ten days before the first payment of wages by contractors to employees on the improvement.
The coordinator's duties include setting up and maintaining the payroll reports and affidavits submitted by every contractor and subcontractor on the job, and ascertaining from each of them when wage payments will be made. For you, that means one concrete obligation at the start of the work: supply the coordinator with your schedule of wage payment dates when you begin performance under the contract. It is a small step, it is easy to skip in the rush of mobilization, and it is exactly the kind of omission that surfaces later as a compliance note.
Practically, the first question on an Ohio public improvement is who is the coordinator. Get the name and contact details from the public authority before your first payroll is due, because that is where your submissions go.
The schedule: two weeks, then monthly
Ohio's submission cadence catches people used to the federal weekly rhythm. Certified payrolls must be submitted within two weeks after the initial pay period, and monthly thereafter. Each certification must be executed by the contractor, subcontractor, or a duly appointed agent, and must recite that the payroll is correct and complete and that the wage rates shown are not less than those required by the contract.
As in every state with a non-weekly filing schedule, the reduced submission frequency does not reduce your record-keeping frequency. Hours, classifications, rates, and deductions are still tracked week by week; the monthly submission is assembled from those weekly records, and that is the detail an investigator asks for.
| Ohio (ORC 4115) | Federal (Davis-Bacon) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cadence | Within 2 weeks of the initial pay period, then monthly | Weekly, within 7 days of the pay date |
| Goes to | The public authority's Prevailing Wage Coordinator | The contracting agency |
| Certification | Executed by contractor, sub, or duly appointed agent | Statement of Compliance (29 CFR 5.5) |
| Up-front duty | Give the coordinator your wage payment dates | None equivalent |
Common Ohio mistakes
- Not identifying the coordinator. Submissions sent to a general project inbox instead of the appointed coordinator can sit unrecorded. Ask for the name early.
- Skipping the wage payment schedule. Contractors owe the coordinator their schedule of wage payment dates on beginning performance — an easy step to miss.
- Filing weekly out of habit, or missing the first deadline. The first payroll is due within two weeks of the initial pay period; the rhythm goes monthly after that.
- Treating monthly filing as monthly records. The underlying payroll detail is still weekly.
- Shorting the fringe. Base plus fringe is the obligation; a shortfall becomes back wages across every hour worked.
- Working from a remembered threshold.Ohio's coverage thresholds are adjusted over time — confirm the current figure with the public authority.
Federal overlap
Ohio projects that receive federal funding can carry Davis-Bacon obligations alongside ORC 4115 — meaning a weekly WH-347to the contracting agency running in parallel with the state's monthly submissions to the coordinator. Two different cadences on the same crew's hours is the norm on federally assisted Ohio work, and workers are owed the higher of the applicable rates. Your contract documents identify the funding; confirm with the public authority when it's ambiguous.
How Certiwage helps
Certiwage computes your weekly payroll — gross, overtime at 1.5× the base rate plus straight-time fringe, deductions, and net — and runs a fringe shortfall check before you certify anything. On the federal side of an Ohio job, it produces the WH-347 and Statement of Compliance directly. On the state side, its weekly records give you the worker, classification, hours, rate, and deduction detail the coordinator expects, ready to assemble into your Ohio submission on the schedule your contract sets.
Certiwage is a document-preparation tool, not legal advice, and is not affiliated with the Ohio Department of Commerce or the U.S. Department of Labor. Confirm your project's coordinator, thresholds, and submission format with the public authority. See how the rules differ in our Illinois and Pennsylvania guides.
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