New York Department of Labor Article 8 and Certified Payroll: What Contractors Must Do
SelectView Data Solutions works with Trimble Viewpoint Vista and Spectrum. We build the certified payroll reporting that contractors submit under New York Article 8. This guide covers what Article 8 requires, how it differs from Article 9, what has to appear on your certified payroll, and the configuration decisions inside Vista that determine whether your submissions go through clean.
What is New York Article 8?
Article 8 of the New York State Labor Law sets the rules for prevailing wage on public construction jobs. If you’re doing construction, reconstruction, maintenance, or repair work on a public project in New York, you’re required to pay workers the prevailing wage and supplement rate that matches their trade classification — and you have to back it up with certified payroll records.
The obligation follows the funding rather than the owner. A project owned privately but built with public money can still be covered, which is why the contract, not the client, is the document that settles it.
Article 8 versus Article 9
Article 8
Article 9
Applies to
Public work construction
Building service work
Typical work
Construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair
Cleaning, security, maintenance services
Wage basis
Prevailing wage plus supplements by classification
Prevailing wage plus supplements by classification
Certified payroll
Required
Required
Who sets rates
NYSDOL schedules, or NYC Comptroller within the five boroughs
Same structure
Contractors performing both types of work on the same site need to be careful about which schedule applies to which worker. Getting this wrong is a common source of underpayment findings, because the classifications do not map cleanly onto each other.
What New York certified payroll has to show
New York certified payroll goes further than the federal WH-347 in one important respect: supplements. You must show not only the cash wage but the supplement rate and how it was satisfied, whether paid in cash or contributed to a bona fide plan.
Employee name and identifying information
Trade classification, matching the applicable wage schedule
Hours worked each day, by classification
Prevailing wage rate paid
Supplement rate and how supplements were provided
Gross wages, itemized deductions, and net pay
Certification signed under penalty of perjury
Where Vista configuration decides the outcome
In Viewpoint Vista, prevailing wage compliance runs through Craft and Class. The Craft is the trade and the Class is the level within it, and together they drive the pay rate, the supplement rates and the classification printed on the certified report. Translating a New York wage schedule into Vista means:
Creating a Craft for each trade on the applicable schedule.
Creating a Class for every rate the schedule lists, including apprentice steps at each percentage.
Entering the cash wage and the supplement rate separately, never combined.
Attaching the earnings, deduction and liability codes that represent how supplements are satisfied.
Adding new effective dated Class records when the schedule updates, rather than overwriting the existing rate.
That last point matters more in New York than almost anywhere else, because schedules update annually on July 1 and mid year amendments are common. Overwriting a rate makes earlier weeks re-report at the current figure, which reads as a retroactive underpayment when someone reviews the file.
The mistakes that produce findings
Supplements folded into the base rate.
The total may be correct and the report still fails, because the split cannot be shown.
Apprentice ratios exceeded.
Apprentice rates are only valid within the registered ratio. Hours beyond it owe the journey worker rate.
Classification drift.
A worker performs two classifications in a week and the timecard records one.
Wrong schedule.
New York City work follows the Comptroller’s schedule rather than the state schedule.
Submission and record keeping
Certified payroll is submitted to the contracting agency, and many agencies now require electronic submission through a compliance portal. Records must be maintained and produced on request. Because the required format varies by agency, most contractors find that a purpose built export from Vista data is more reliable than manual preparation, particularly where the same week has to be filed in more than one format.
A weekly process that holds up
Validate at entry. Flag timecards on prevailing wage jobs with a missing or improbable Craft and Class before payroll processes.
Reconcile certified payroll hours to job cost labor hours for the same week. A difference means hours are coded to the job but not the classification.
Generate the required format, whether the Vista report or an export mapped to the agency portal.
Retain the supporting transcript alongside the submitted file.
Log every submission: job, week ending, format, date filed and acceptance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is New York Article 8?
Article 8 of the New York State Labor Law covers public construction work — new builds, repairs, and maintenance alike. It requires contractors to pay workers the prevailing wage and supplements, and to keep certified payroll records proving they did.
Does New York certified payroll differ from the federal WH-347?
Yes. New York requires supplements to be shown separately, including how they were provided, whether paid in cash or contributed to a bona fide plan.
Do New York City projects follow the state schedule?
Work within the five boroughs generally follows the schedule published by the New York City Comptroller rather than the state schedule. Confirm which applies before setting up the job.
What happens if certified payroll is wrong?
Consequences range from rejected submissions and withheld payment to back wage liability, civil penalties and debarment from future public work.
Can Viewpoint Vista produce New York certified payroll?
Vista produces certified payroll from the Payroll module. Accuracy depends on Craft and Class configuration, keeping cash wage and supplements separate, and timecards coded to the correct classification.
SelectView’s Payroll Exporter for Vista is a desktop application. Payroll Exporter’s NYSDOL option generates the XML and other documents required by New York State DOL. Being on the desktop means that your users can easily generate and submit the necessary files to New York State.