Pennsylvania Certified Payroll Requirements

Pennsylvania runs its prevailing wage program on its own form. If you've been filing federal WH-347s and just won your first state or local public works job in PA, the thing to know up front is that the Commonwealth has a designated certified payroll form — Form LLC-25 — and a dollar threshold that differs sharply from the federal one.

Who's covered: the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act

Pennsylvania's prevailing wage obligation comes from the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, administered by the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) through its Bureau of Labor Law Compliance. It covers non-maintenance construction work on public works projects funded by state or local public bodies.

The threshold is the first thing to check: public works contracts over $25,000trigger prevailing wage in Pennsylvania. That is a much higher floor than the federal Davis-Bacon Act's $2,000, and it means a small PA public job may carry no state prevailing wage duty at all — while the same job with federal money attached would still be covered federally. The word non-maintenancematters too: routine maintenance work is treated differently from construction, and if your scope sits near that line, get the public body's written determination rather than guessing.

Official rate schedules, forms, and current guidance come from L&I. The Bureau of Labor Law Compliance can be reached at 1-800-932-0665.

The form: LLC-25, filed weekly

Pennsylvania's certified payroll report is Form LLC-25, the Commonwealth's Weekly Payroll Certification for Public Works Projects. It captures what you'd expect — each worker's classification, hours worked, wages paid, and fringe benefits — plus a signed certification that the payroll is correct and complete.

The cadence is weekly, matching the federal rhythm rather than the monthly or bi-weekly schedules used by neighbors like Connecticut and Maryland. Contractors and subcontractors performing public work submit their certified payrolls to the public body that awarded the contract. Some submissions call for a notarized signature; confirm with your awarding body what it expects before your first filing, since requirements can vary by project and agency.

	Pennsylvania	Federal (Davis-Bacon)
Threshold	Public works over $25,000 (non-maintenance)	Over $2,000
Form	Form LLC-25	Form WH-347 or equivalent
Cadence	Weekly	Weekly, within 7 days of the pay date
Goes to	The awarding public body	The contracting agency
Administered by	L&I, Bureau of Labor Law Compliance	U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division

The prime is on the hook for the subs

One structural point worth internalizing, whichever side of the contract you sit on: in Pennsylvania the prime contractor is responsible for the accuracy of all submissions on the project, including its subcontractors'.

That cuts two ways. If you're the prime, a sub's sloppy LLC-25 becomes your compliance problem, which is why primes chase corrections so aggressively. If you're the sub, it explains why your prime cares about your paperwork more than seems proportionate — and why submitting clean, internally consistent reports is the fastest way to stop getting chased.

What triggers an audit

The pattern the Bureau sees most often isn't deliberate underpayment — it's paperwork that doesn't hold together. Missing fields, hours that don't reconcile across the week, and unsigned certifications can trigger scrutiny even when the wages were actually paid correctly.An LLC-25 with a blank classification column or a total that doesn't match the daily hours invites exactly the review you were trying to avoid.

Common Pennsylvania mistakes

Applying the federal $2,000 threshold. The state floor is $25,000. Applying the wrong one in either direction causes problems — either unnecessary filings or a missed obligation.
Assuming a WH-347 is automatically accepted. Pennsylvania designates LLC-25 for state public works. Confirm the format with the awarding body rather than defaulting to the federal form.
Missing the maintenance distinction. The Act covers non-maintenance construction. Scopes near the boundary need a written determination.
Leaving fields blank. Incomplete certifications draw audits independent of whether the pay was right.
Shorting the fringe. Base plus fringe is the obligation. A cash-plus-benefits package below the required total becomes back wages across every hour worked.
Skipping the overtime rule.Overtime is 1.5× the base rate plus straight-time fringe — the fringe is not multiplied.

Federal overlap

Pennsylvania projects carrying federal funds — transit, highway, and federally assisted housing work especially — can trigger Davis-Bacon alongside the state Act. The obligations don't cancel out: you may owe a weekly WH-347 to the contracting agency and a weekly LLC-25 to the public body, with workers owed the higher of the applicable rates. Read the contract documents for the funding sources, and confirm with the agency.

How Certiwage helps

Certiwage produces a fringe-checked weekly WH-347and signed Statement of Compliance, with the Davis-Bacon overtime formula applied correctly. For the federal side of a Pennsylvania job, that's the filing itself. For the state side, Certiwage gives you the weekly worker, classification, hours, rate, and deduction detail that Form LLC-25 asks for, computed and checked — you transfer it onto the Commonwealth's form and submit per your public body's instructions.

To be plain about the boundary: Certiwage does not generate Form LLC-25. It generates the federal WH-347 and the correct underlying numbers. Certiwage is a document-preparation tool, not legal advice, and is not affiliated with L&I or the U.S. Department of Labor — confirm your project's requirements with the awarding body. Compare neighboring rules in our Ohio and New Jersey guides.

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