How to Fill Out and Submit Form AA-202: NJ Monthly Workforce Report

NJ Form AA-202 is the Monthly Project Workforce Report that every contractor and subcontractor on a covered New Jersey public works construction project must file each month, documenting workforce hours and demographics by trade. It goes to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Construction EEO Compliance Monitoring Program, with a copy to the public agency that awarded the contract, and it is due by the seventh business day of the month following the reporting period.

Who Has to File

Any contractor or subcontractor performing work under a public works contract that meets New Jersey’s prevailing-wage thresholds is on the hook. For contracts awarded directly by a municipal government, the threshold is $19,375 or more. For every other public entity, including municipal utility authorities, boards of education, and state agencies, the threshold drops to $2,000.¹ The requirement sits under N.J.S.A. 10:5-31 et seq., which covers construction, alteration, or repair for the state, a county, a municipality, or any agency or authority they create.²

Reporting starts after the contract is awarded and continues every month work is performed, until the project closes out. Workforce size on a given day is irrelevant. Note that AA-202 is the construction form; goods and services contracts use AA-302 instead.

File Form AA-201 First to Get a Project ID

You cannot meaningfully file an AA-202 until you have completed the Initial Project Workforce Report, Form AA-201. That one-time filing happens after you receive notice of the contract award but before you sign the contract.³ Once the Construction EEO Compliance Monitoring Program processes it, your firm receives a project contract ID number. That number is a required field on every AA-202 that follows.

What to Gather Before You Start

Prime contractor name, address, and ZIP code, plus your Contractor ID Number from the Construction EEO Compliance Monitoring Program.
Your Federal Employer Identification Number. If the business doesn’t have one, use the owner’s Social Security Number, or one partner’s SSN for a partnership.⁴
The Project ID Number issued when your AA-201 was processed.
Daily payroll records showing hours worked by every employee on the job site that month, broken down by trade and by journeyworker or apprentice classification.
Each worker’s racial or ethnic group and gender, so you can complete the minority and female columns.

Cross-check every figure against your certified payrolls before you submit. Discrepancies between the AA-202 and the underlying payroll are what auditors look for first.

Filling Out the Form

The form is organized around trades. Each row represents one craft at one classification level for one contractor on the project. As the prime, you list yourself first, then each subcontractor, repeating the trade rows for every firm performing work that month.⁴

Employee Counts by Group

Column 11 asks for the total number of employees in each trade at each classification level, broken into the groups defined by N.J.A.C. 17:27-2.1:⁵

Black (not of Hispanic origin): persons with origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
Hispanic: persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
Asian or Pacific Islander: persons with origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands.
American Indian or Alaskan Native: persons with origins in any of the original peoples of North America who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.
Female: includes both minority and non-minority women.

The overlap trips people up. Columns B through E (the four racial and ethnic categories) already include minority females in those counts. Column F counts all women, minority and non-minority alike. Column 12 sums B through E to give the total minority employee count.⁴

Hours and Percentages

Column 13 captures total monthly work hours. Enter total minority work hours (columns B through E) and total female work hours (column F) for each craft at each classification level.⁶ Column 14 gives you the percentage of minority hours and female hours against total hours for each trade. That percentage is what the state uses to measure whether you are meeting the applicable workforce participation goals.

What the Percentages Are Measured Against

New Jersey does not impose hard hiring quotas. The State Treasurer sets percentage targets for minority and female participation by trade under N.J.A.C. 17:27-7.2, expressed as percentages of total hours worked and posted on the Treasury’s contract compliance website.⁷ Contractors are expected to make good-faith efforts to hit them. Consistent shortfalls on your AA-202s draw scrutiny of your hiring practices and can trigger enforcement.

Where and When to Submit

Form AA-202 is due by the seventh business day of the month following the reporting period.⁸ It goes to two recipients:

The state: New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Construction EEO Compliance Monitoring Program, PO Box 209, Trenton, NJ 08625-0209.⁴
The awarding agency: a copy to the public agency that awarded the contract.

You can also file electronically through the Division of Public Contracts EEO Compliance online portal, which submits your AA-202 directly and gives the Division immediate access to your workforce data.⁹ Electronic filing eliminates the risk of mail delays pushing you past the deadline.

One report per project, per month. If your firm is running three public contracts at once, that’s three separate AA-202s each month. Keep a copy of each in your own files.

How Subcontractor Data Flows Through

Subcontractors do not file their own AA-202s. The prime contractor’s report incorporates workforce data for every firm performing work at the site that month, with the prime listed first and each subcontractor’s trade rows below.⁴ Subs have to get their hours and demographics to the prime in time for the prime to compile and file by the seventh business day. If a sub is late with data, the prime’s report is late, and the penalties fall on the filer.

Records to Keep

Keep a copy of every submitted AA-202 with the payroll records that back it up. Under New Jersey’s Wage Payment Law and Wage and Hour Law, employers must maintain records of hours worked and earnings for six years, stored at the work site or at a central office in New Jersey.¹⁰ An EEO auditor will compare your AA-202 figures against your certified payrolls, so the two have to line up. Sloppy or missing time records will produce an adverse finding even when the underlying workforce numbers are fine.

What Noncompliance Costs

Under N.J.A.C. 17:27-10.6, the Division may impose a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation for each day the violation continues. It can also refer the matter to the contracting agency for additional remedies, including suspension, debarment from future public contracts, withholding of payments, or contract termination.¹¹

The consequence most contractors feel first is a hold on progress payments. A missed or incomplete AA-202 gives the awarding agency grounds to pause your next draw, which creates cash-flow problems fast on a large project. Filing consistently, even when your workforce numbers are not where you want them, is far better than gaps in the record.

1
State of New Jersey. Prevailing Wage Rates on Construction-Related Public Works Projects
2
Justia. New Jersey Code 10-5-31 – Definitions
3
State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury. Instructions for Completing the Initial Project Workforce Report – Construction (AA201)
4
State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury. Instructions for Completing Monthly Project Workforce Report – AA202
5
State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury. Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Rules (N.J.A.C. 17:27)
6
New Jersey Department of the Treasury. New Jersey Form AA-202 – Monthly Project Workforce Report – Construction
7
New Jersey Schools Development Authority. New Jersey Administrative Code 19:39 – Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Rules
8
Cornell Law Institute. N.J. Admin. Code 17:27-7.5 – Construction Project Workforce Reports
9
Division of Public Contracts EEO Compliance. Division of Public Contracts EEO Compliance
10
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Employer Poster Packet
11
Cornell Law Institute. N.J. Admin. Code 17:27-10.6 – Contractor, Vendor and Public Agency Remedial Actions