Louisiana prevailing wage and certified payroll rules

Louisiana does not have a statewide prevailing wage law for public construction. The U.S. Department of Labor lists Louisiana among the states without one and notes the law was repealed in 1988. So a school board, parish, or state agency paying for a job with only state or local money does not trigger a state wage determination or state certified payroll. The catch is federal money. The moment a project carries federal funds over the Davis-Bacon threshold, you are paying federal prevailing wages and filing weekly certified payroll, no matter that the owner is a Louisiana parish.

What the 1988 repeal means on a Louisiana bid

For most public jobs funded only with state, parish, or municipal money, your labor price is your own. You still follow Louisiana's public bid rules, licensing, and payment laws, but there is no state commissioner publishing craft rates you must meet. Bid a $900,000 parish library renovation with only local bond money and you price labor at your normal wage and burden. Check your license class first on the Louisiana contractor license page, since public bid work in Louisiana usually starts there.

Do not stop at the funding source the owner tells you about at the pre-bid meeting. Read the specifications. Louisiana owners often blend money: a local drainage project may carry a federal grant, a housing job may use federal loan money, and a school may receive federal disaster recovery dollars. Any of those can pull the whole contract under the federal rules. The specs will say so and will include a federal wage decision if they do.

When Davis-Bacon applies in Louisiana

The Davis-Bacon Act covers contractors and subcontractors on federal or federally assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for building, altering, or repairing public buildings or public works. The Related Acts extend the same wage rules to work that federal agencies help fund through grants, loans, loan guarantees, and insurance. That is how a parish road job or a public housing rehab in Louisiana ends up with federal wage rates even though the contract is signed locally.

• Rates: pay at least the wage and fringe for each classification in the wage determination attached to the contract. Pull the right one before you price the bid; see how to find the right Davis-Bacon wage determination.
• Certified payroll: submit payroll information every week. The DOL says Form WH-347 is optional, but the weekly submission is not.
• Overtime: on prime contracts over $100,000, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act requires time and a half for hours over 40 in a workweek.
• Subs: the prime is responsible for getting every tier's payroll in on time. A plan for collecting certified payroll from subcontractors saves the pay app.

The New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board exception

One Louisiana statute still carries prevailing wage language. La. R.S. 33:4085 governs contracts let by the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans. In every such contract that requires or involves mechanics or laborers, regardless of the amount, the specifications must state the minimum wages for each class of laborer and mechanic. Those minimums are based on the wages the U.S. Secretary of Labor determines to be prevailing for the corresponding classes in the city of New Orleans.

In practice that means a pipe crew on a Sewerage and Water Board job may be held to federal-style rates even when the funding is local. The statute does not create a state certified payroll form, so follow the reporting rules written into the bid documents. This page relies on a published copy of the statute; the Louisiana Legislature's site has the official text, so confirm the current version before you bid.

How Louisiana compares with federal Davis-Bacon

Record keeping that still matters

Even without a state law, Louisiana contractors who chase public work end up keeping prevailing wage records anyway. Federal disaster recovery, transportation, water, and housing money moves through the state constantly. Set up job classifications, fringe tracking, and a weekly certified payroll routine before you win the first federal job, not the week the first payroll is due. A missed week can hold up your progress payment, and payment timing has its own rules on the Louisiana prompt payment page. If the owner withholds over wage paperwork, your lien deadlines keep running; see Louisiana mechanics lien law.

Smart Business Automator prepares weekly certified payroll from your time and pay data and tracks which subs have turned theirs in, so a federally funded Louisiana job does not stall over paperwork. See certified payroll automation.