Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Act, Act 442 of 1961, requires contractors to pay rates set by the state on a public work. The Department of Labor and Industry describes a public work as construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration or repair, other than maintenance, done under contract and paid for in whole or in part with a public body’s money. The project’s estimated total cost has to be over $25,000, and a project cannot be split into pieces to stay under that threshold. The department’s Bureau of Labor Law Compliance sets the rates and enforces them.
What counts as a public work
The public body can be the state, a state authority or agency, a state or state-related university, or a political subdivision: a county, city, borough, incorporated town, township, school district, vocational school district or county institution. Around Conshohocken that covers the boroughs, the townships, Montgomery County and the school districts.
The public body does not have to sign the construction contract. Labor and Industry’s FAQ says the wage is owed whenever the work is financed in whole or in part with public funds, and gives the example of a private developer that receives any public financing for a commercial project. The project’s total cost decides coverage, not the size of the public share.
Maintenance work is excluded. The department defines it as repairing existing facilities without changing their size, type or extent, or patching a facility back to usable condition. It lists work that is not maintenance and needs prevailing wages, including:
- In-kind sidewalk replacement
- Roof replacement
- Road milling and replacement
- Repair and rehabilitation of manholes
- Painting beyond covering minor imperfections
Other exclusions on the department’s list include off-site work, material suppliers who do not work at the site, supervisors who do not use tools, and projects where the federal government requires federal prevailing wages and the cost exceeds $2,000.
Locally funded highway and bridge projects follow a different threshold. For contracts after January 1, 2014, those projects require prevailing wages when the total cost exceeds $100,000. The FAQ defines them by funding source, such as the state’s liquid fuels allocation to municipalities or a municipality’s own tax revenue.
How rates are set
Labor and Industry issues a rate determination for each project, and the rates belong in the bid specifications. It sets rates for four kinds of work:
| Rate type | What the department includes |
|---|---|
| Building | A sheltered enclosure with walk-in access for people, equipment or supplies, with its utilities and incidental grading and paving |
| Highway | Roads, streets, alleys, trails, paths, parking areas and similar work not incidental to building construction |
| Heavy | Work that is not building, highway or residential, such as bridges, dams, pipelines, antenna towers and sewage work not needed for a building |
| Residential | A detached single-family home, a single condominium unit, a unit in a duplex or a single townhouse |
Rates are based on collective bargaining agreements and other data for each craft in the county where the work happens, and a rate may combine cash wages and fringe benefits. Montgomery County falls in the department’s five-county area with Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties. For that area, the department’s prevailing wage page links notes on which tasks belong to the building laborer classification, along with notes for heavy and highway laborers and definitions for operators.
An interested party can challenge a rate determination within 10 days after the contract specifications are published and issued.
What the contractor has to do
The FAQ lists these duties for the prime contractor and every subcontractor:
- Pay each worker the prevailing rate for the trade and classification of the work performed. Paying by lump sum or piece rate violates the act.
- Keep records of each worker’s name, classification, daily hours, hourly rate including benefits, and deductions, along with timecards, fringe benefit records and apprentice indentures.
- Submit certified payrolls to the public body every week. Falsifying one can be prosecuted as a criminal misdemeanor.
- Keep records for at least two years and make them available to the department and the public body.
- Post the project’s rates at the site for the length of the job.
Overtime for work over 40 hours a week is paid at 1.5 times the prevailing rate. A contractor can take credit for contributions it makes to bona fide fringe benefit plans, such as health insurance, vacation and retirement. Per diem, motel rooms, transportation to the site, tool rental, logo clothing, company meals and holiday bonuses do not count, the department says.
Penalties
For an intentional violation, the department lists debarment from public works contracts for three years, payment of the wages owed, possible referral to the Attorney General for liquidated damages, and possible removal from the project. Examples it gives of intentional violations include false certification, misclassifying workers to pay a lower rate, and paying preset ratios of craft and laborer time instead of the hours worked. A contractor accused of a violation can contest it at an administrative hearing.
A bill to change the act
Senate Bill 908 would amend the act’s definitions, its section on specifications and the duties of the Secretary of Labor and Industry. The Senate passed it 37 to 13 on June 10, 2026, and the House referred it to its Labor and Industry Committee on June 12, 2026, according to the General Assembly’s bill page. As of October 3, 2026, it had not become law.
The Pennsylvania Utility Contractors Association, which opposes the bill, summarized the Senate-passed version in an update to its members: it would add HVAC duct cleaning and custom off-site fabrication for a public work to the act’s coverage, exempt rehabilitation of up to eight units of residential housing, and exempt school safety projects paid from grant funds up to $50,000. The association reports that the Senate tabled an amendment that would have raised the $25,000 threshold to $2,500,000.
Where to get rates and answers
Search existing rate determinations or request one through Labor and Industry’s prevailing wage system, linked from the department’s prevailing wage page. The Bureau of Labor Law Compliance answers project questions at 1-800-932-0665, choosing the prevailing wage option, or by email at ra-li-slmr-llc@pa.gov.
For a question about how the act applies to a project you are bidding, ask the bureau or a labor lawyer before you price the job. For what local tradespeople earn on private work, see construction wages in the Philadelphia area.