Denver Prevailing Wage: Rates, Certified Payroll, and Penalties

Denver’s prevailing wage ordinance, found at Denver Revised Municipal Code Section 20-76, requires contractors and subcontractors on city-funded projects worth more than $2,000 to pay workers no less than the published rate for their trade, submit weekly certified payrolls, and post wage information at the job site.¹ Violations carry per-employee weekly fines, withheld payments, and the possibility of debarment from future city work.

Which Contracts Trigger the Rules

Section 20-76 reaches two kinds of work. One is physical construction: building, repairing, maintaining, improving, or demolishing anything on city-owned or city-leased property, or on city-owned land, when the work is done under a city contract or financed in whole or in part by the city.¹ The other is custodial and janitorial work in city-owned or city-leased buildings, covering roles like window washers, porters, cleaners, and caretakers.

The $2,000 threshold counts the full aggregate value of the contract, including all change orders and amendments.¹ A contract that starts below the threshold but grows past it through change orders becomes subject to the ordinance. The obligations also flow down to subcontractors at every tier, so a second- or third-tier sub owes the same wages as the prime.

Two situations fall outside the rule. Youth employment program participants doing non-construction work like landscaping that isn’t tied to a building project are exempt, and work performed under a license or permit to use city land, rather than under a contract that requires or permits the covered work, is also excluded.¹

How the Wage Rates Are Set

The Denver Auditor’s Office sets the prevailing wage rates for every covered job classification. A prevailing wage administrator inside that office establishes, updates, and publishes the schedules, drawing on labor market surveys, collective bargaining agreements, and stakeholder input.² Current wage determinations are posted on the Auditor’s Prevailing Wage page, organized by trade.

Each classification carries a total compensation requirement with two pieces: a base hourly wage and a fringe benefit amount. Contractors should pull the applicable schedule before bidding, because the rates in effect on the bid date set the baseline for that contract.

Denver wage determinations stay in effect for 12 months from the anniversary date, which is typically the bid issuance or advertisement date. Updated rates apply after that. Projects with federal funding follow a different rule: wage rates are frozen for the entire duration of the project.³ For multi-year work, confirm which funding source controls the rate schedule before you lock in cost estimates. If a classification you need isn’t on the published determination, contact the Auditor’s prevailing wage administrator before work starts; picking the closest listed trade on your own is not a safe move.

Fringe Benefits and Overtime

The fringe portion can be satisfied two ways. You can provide qualifying benefits such as health insurance, pension contributions, and paid leave that add up to or exceed the required fringe amount. Or, if your benefit package falls short, you pay the gap as additional cash on top of the base rate. Combining the two is fine.

Overtime kicks in after 40 hours worked in a workweek, regardless of whether all 40 hours were on the prevailing wage project.⁴ The overtime rate is the greater of one-and-a-half times the prevailing wage base rate plus the required fringe amount, or one-and-a-half times the worker’s established base rate plus the required fringe amount.⁵ Run the math both ways and pay whichever result is higher. Paid holidays and paid leave hours do not count toward the 40-hour overtime threshold.

Apprentice Pay

Apprentices may be paid at a reduced rate, but only if both the employer and the individual apprentice are enrolled in a registered apprenticeship program approved by the U.S. Department of Labor. Payroll records must show each apprentice’s craft and their percentage of the journeyworker rate. An apprentice listed as an “80% operating engineer,” for instance, earns 80% of the full journeyworker scale.

Contractors cannot exceed a one-to-one ratio of journeyworkers to apprentices on site. Any employer that pays apprentice rates to workers who aren’t properly registered owes those workers the full journeyworker wage retroactively.

Certified Payroll and Job-Site Posting

Every contractor and subcontractor on a covered project must submit certified payroll records weekly through LCPtracker, the Auditor’s electronic reporting system. Each submission covers one pay period and must include the worker’s name, address, classification, hours worked (broken down by straight time and overtime), gross wages, deductions, and fringe benefit contributions. The person certifying the payroll is personally responsible for the accuracy of the reported information.⁶

Falling behind on weekly submissions has an immediate consequence. The city can withhold progress payments until certified payrolls are current, so a missed filing directly affects cash flow.⁵

Denver also requires a prevailing wage poster at every covered work site where employees can see it.² The mandatory poster is available as a downloadable PDF in English and Spanish from the Auditor’s Prevailing Wage page. Put it in a break area, trailer, or common access point, not behind a locked office door.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

If an underpayment isn’t corrected within 30 days of notice, the Auditor’s office can impose fines on a tiered schedule:⁵

First violation: $50 per week per affected employee.
Second violation within three years: $75 per week per employee, plus a $2,500 fine.
Third or subsequent violation within three years: $100 per week per employee, plus a $5,000 fine.

Separate penalties apply for reporting failures. A contractor that doesn’t submit certified payrolls at all faces $500 per week for each week a worker performed work without a corresponding filing. False information on a certified payroll that isn’t corrected within 15 days triggers a $50-per-week fine for each incident.⁵ These reporting penalties stack on top of any underpayment fines.

Fines aren’t the only tool. Under D.R.M.C. Section 20-78, the city can withhold payment on a contractor’s invoices until prevailing wage requirements are met. Under D.R.M.C. Section 20-77, repeated violations can result in debarment, a ban on bidding or working on future city contracts.⁵ For a contractor whose book of business depends on city work, debarment is the penalty that ends the business.

How Workers File a Complaint

Workers who believe they haven’t been paid the correct prevailing wage can file directly with Denver Labor, the enforcement division within the Auditor’s Office. There are three channels:⁷

Online: the Prevailing Wage Complaint Form on the Auditor’s website.
Phone: 720-913-WAGE (9243).
Email: wagecomplaints@denvergov.org.

Anonymous complaints are accepted, but the office won’t be able to follow up with you if investigators need more information, which can limit what they can prove.⁷ All reports are kept confidential. Denver Labor staff investigate through payroll audits and employee interviews, and if a violation is confirmed, the office facilitates recovery of back wages for affected workers.⁸

Timing matters. Under federal wage law, the statute of limitations is two years for standard violations and three years for willful violations. The recovery window reaches back only from the filing date, so delay reduces the amount of back pay you can recover.

1
City and County of Denver. Denver Code of Ordinances – Sec. 20-76 Payment of Prevailing Wages
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City and County of Denver. Prevailing Wage
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City and County of Denver. Denver Prevailing Wage Pre-Bid Presentation
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City and County of Denver. Prevailing Wage Overview
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Denver Public Art. Prevailing Wage Overview
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City and County of Denver. Certified Payroll Class
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City and County of Denver. Prevailing Wage Complaint Form
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City and County of Denver. Denver Labor