Idaho Prevailing Wage

No. The U.S. Department of Labor's table of state prevailing wage contract thresholds lists no threshold for Idaho and groups it with the states that have no prevailing wage law, noting that Idaho repealed its law in 1985. Idaho Code Title 44, chapter 10, headed Public Works, still exists, but what survives in it is a residency preference for Idaho workers and the definitions and penalties around it, not a wage rate. The Idaho Department of Labor's own wage questions page covers the minimum wage, wage payment, child labor and wage claims, and says nothing about prevailing wage or certified payroll. There is no state rate schedule to look up for a 2026 Idaho job.

A hiring preference, not a wage. Section 44-1002 requires that contracts for state, county, municipal and school construction, repair and maintenance work carry a provision under which the contractor employs ninety-five percent bona fide Idaho residents, with an allowance for ten percent nonresidents where fifty or fewer persons are employed, and it says the act shall not be enforced on federal-aid contracts in a manner that conflicts with federal statutes giving a labor preference to honorably discharged service members. Whether that preference clause applies to your job is a question for the awarding body and your attorney; it is not a prevailing wage.

Not state ones. If someone hands you an Idaho prevailing wage rate sheet for a 2026 job, it is almost certainly a federal Davis-Bacon wage determination, a rate written into the contract by the awarding agency, or a collective bargaining agreement rate you signed. Those are all real obligations. None of them is a state prevailing wage determination, because Idaho does not issue any.

Not a minimum wage. Idaho Code section 44-1502(4) says that no political subdivision of this state shall establish by ordinance or other action minimum wages higher than the minimum wages provided in that section. Whether a public body may write a wage term into its own construction contract is a different question and one for your attorney, not for a software company.

Yes, and this is the part that matters most. Davis-Bacon applies on its own federal authority to contracts in excess of $2,000 for construction, alteration, or repair, including painting and decorating, of public buildings or public works, and the Related Acts extend prevailing wage requirements to construction that federal agencies assist through grants, loans, loan guarantees and insurance. Section IV of Form FHWA-1273, the federal-aid contract provisions, is applicable to all Federal-aid construction projects exceeding $2,000 and to all related subcontracts and lower-tier subcontracts regardless of subcontract size. In Idaho, the Idaho Transportation Department's federal-aid lettings are where most contractors meet it.

Its Contract Administration manual, Section 112 on Labor Compliance, says contractors and subcontractors must submit weekly certified payrolls to the Resident Engineer. There is no mandatory format, but every certified payroll must contain the project number, the employer's full name, and for each employee the classification in accordance with the contract wage decision, the hourly wage and fringe benefit rates, the hours worked each day with overtime shown separately, the gross amount earned, the itemized deductions and the net amount paid. The Statement of Compliance is the WH-347's, either on the WH-347 itself or on another form that uses identical wording.

Consecutively, and separately for the prime and for each subcontractor or sub-subcontractor on a project. The manual says to submit numbered certified payrolls for time periods not worked and to write that no work was performed across the form, and that when payrolls stop during a suspension such as winter, the last one should carry a statement that no work will be done until further notice, with the next consecutive number assigned when work resumes. A gap in the numbering is the first thing a reviewer asks about.

The manual's review checklist asks whether the certified payroll was submitted within one week following the end of the work covered by the payroll. The federal regulation behind it runs from a different reference point: the payroll goes to the contracting or sponsoring agency within 7 days after the regular payment date under 29 CFR 3.4(a). Work to whichever your contract and the Resident Engineer specify, and do not assume the week ending date is the trigger.

ITD's Office of Civil Rights says eComply is a new software solution that automates the submission of certified payroll and federal reporting, that it is replacing a paper process, and that it launched on October 1, 2026 for federally funded projects in ITD District 1, with other districts to follow in phases. It runs inside ITD's existing B2GNow system: a contractor whose payroll software is integrated with eComply submits certified payrolls automatically, and one that is not logs in to B2GNow and uploads the certified payroll documents. Whether your project is on it yet depends on the district and the rollout date, so ask the Resident Engineer or ITD's Contractor Compliance Officer before your first payroll.

The Statement of Compliance must be signed by a corporate officer, a partner, the sole proprietor, or a person they have appointed. When someone else signs and the WH-347 is not being used, the appointment goes on a Payroll Appointment Affidavit, ITD-1800, which accompanies the first payroll; the manual says the ITD-1800 is not required when the WH-347 is used and the certification on its page 2 is completely filled out and signed. For a corporation the president or vice president executes the affidavit; for a partnership, a member of the firm.

The manual says the contractor must retain all payroll records for a minimum of three years after Department final acceptance of the project or final payment receipt for the contract work, whichever is longer, and that the contract work is not complete until the warranty period ends. It also says contractor certified payrolls are public records subject to disclosure on request, with employee addresses and Social Security numbers blocked out, which is one more reason neither belongs on the submitted copy in the first place.

There is no state certified payroll statute to file under, because there is no state prevailing wage act. Whatever reporting the specifications demand is a contract obligation, which is enforceable as a contract term even without a statute behind it. Do not assume it is nothing, and do not assume it is the WH-347 either. Read the contract, and ask the awarding agency what format it expects.

We produce the certified payroll records you hand in on federally funded Idaho work. Enter hours by day and classification and we calculate straight time, overtime on the base rate, the fringe credit and cash in lieu, then generate the Rev. January 2025 federal WH-347 with its Statement of Compliance, which is the form ITD's manual names. Lydia, our AI assistant, flags wages below the rate you entered for the classification before you certify. To be straight with you: we are not integrated with eComply; a contractor on an eComply district uploads the PDF to B2GNow. You file with the agency either way; we do not submit anything to any agency on your behalf.