WH-347 Columns 7A and 7B: Gross Amount Earned, Explained

7A: Gross Amount Earned on This Project

Column 7A is what the worker earned on this contract during the payroll period. It is hours times rates, plus any cash you paid instead of fringe benefits:

7A = (ST hours x ST rate) + (OT hours x OT rate) + cash in lieu of fringe

Overtime is 1.5x the basic hourly rate. The fringe portion is owed at straight time on every hour worked, including overtime hours (29 CFR 5.32(a)), so the cash-in-lieu component is not multiplied by 1.5.

7B: Gross Amount Earned, All Work

Column 7B is the worker's total gross for the week across every job you paid them for, covered and private alike. If the worker spent the whole week on this one project, 7A and 7B are the same number. If they split time, 7B is larger.

7B exists so an investigator can reconcile your certified payroll against the worker's actual paycheck. Deductions in Column 8 and net pay in Column 9 are both reported for all work, which means they tie to 7B, not 7A. A payroll where deductions look correct against 7A but wrong against 7B is a standard audit finding.

Which Fringe Dollars Belong in Gross

This is the distinction that decides whether your gross figures reconcile:

• Cash paid in lieu of fringe benefits (Column 6C): these are wages paid to the worker, so they are included in 7A and 7B.
• Contributions to bona fide benefit plans (Column 6B): these are paid to a plan or fund, not to the worker, so they stay out of 7A and 7B.

Adding plan contributions into gross inflates reported earnings above what the paycheck shows and breaks the tie-out between Columns 7B, 8, and 9.

Worked Example

A Carpenter works 32 hours on the Main Street job and 8 hours on a private remodel this week. The Davis-Bacon rate is $38.00 base + $9.50 fringe, of which $3.29/hr is a plan credit and $6.21/hr is paid as cash. The private job pays $30.00/hr.

• Main Street wages: 32 x $38.00 = $1,216.00
• Cash in lieu on covered hours: 32 x $6.21 = $198.72
• Column 7A = $1,216.00 + $198.72 = $1,414.72
• Private remodel: 8 x $30.00 = $240.00
• Column 7B = $1,414.72 + $240.00 = $1,654.72

The $3.29/hr plan credit appears in Column 6B and in the page 2 fringe table. It never enters 7A or 7B.

Common Mistakes

Putting the same figure in 7A and 7B out of habit

Correct only when the worker touched no other job that week. For anyone splitting time, 7B must be the larger, all-inclusive number.

Reporting 7B as covered work only

"All work" means all work, including private, non-covered jobs. Limiting 7B to federal projects understates weekly earnings and will not reconcile with the worker's pay stub.

Rolling plan contributions into gross

Plan contributions belong in 6B. Only cash in lieu of fringe is wages.

Applying the overtime multiplier to fringe

Overtime multiplies the basic rate only. Fringe, whether credited in 6B or paid as cash in 6C, is owed at straight time on all hours (29 CFR 5.32(a)).

Related Columns

Columns 7A and 7B work with Column 6A (Hourly Wage Rate), Column 6B (Total Fringe Benefit Credit), and Column 8 (Deductions). For the whole form field by field, see our line-by-line WH-347 instructions.