NYS Prevailing Wage Rates: Schedules, Overtime, and Penalties

New York State prevailing wage rates are the minimum hourly pay and benefit supplements that contractors must pay each worker on a public work project, set annually by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Public Work and varying by trade and by county. The current schedule runs from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.¹ Each project gets its own rate schedule, and the rate for an electrician in Manhattan looks nothing like the rate for the same trade in a rural county.

Which Projects Are Covered

Article 8 of the Labor Law covers construction, reconstruction, and repair performed under a contract with a public entity — the state, a municipal corporation, a public benefit corporation, or a commission established by law. It also reaches work performed by a third party on behalf of a public entity through a lease, permit, or other agreement, or where the public entity will end up owning the finished work.²

Article 9 covers building service employees at public buildings: guards, porters, janitors, elevator operators, gardeners, and workers handling garbage collection or fossil fuel delivery, among others.³ Article 9 applies when the service contract with a public agency exceeds $1,500.⁴

Some private projects also trigger prevailing wage obligations. Under Section 421-a of the Real Property Tax Law (the Affordable New York Housing Program), building service employees at eligible buildings with 30 or more dwelling units must receive the prevailing wage for the entire restriction period.⁵ An exemption exists where all units are affordable and at least half are restricted to households at or below 125% of area median income.

How to Look Up the Rate for Your Project

Every public project is assigned a Prevailing Rate Case (PRC) number, which links to the specific wage schedule for that project.⁶ Enter the PRC number into the Department of Labor’s online search tool to pull the schedule. If there is no PRC number yet, you can search by county and occupation to see the general schedule for that area.⁷

The results show the hourly base rate and the dollar value of supplements for every listed trade. Rates update each July 1, and error corrections post on the first business day of every month, so confirm you are looking at the schedule that matches the dates the work is actually being performed.⁸ Keeping a printed copy of the applicable schedule at the jobsite is standard practice.

How the Rates Are Set

The Bureau of Public Work looks at collective bargaining agreements between unions and private-sector employers in each county. When employers party to those agreements employ at least 30% of the workers in that trade in the locality, the collectively bargained rate becomes the prevailing rate. If a challenge establishes that fewer than 30% of workers in the trade receive a collectively bargained rate, the Department uses the average wage paid to workers in that trade over the preceding twelve months instead.²

That is why rates in heavily unionized areas like New York City run substantially higher than in rural counties. Each trade has its own classification, so an electrician earns a different rate than a laborer or a plumber in the same county. Workers must be matched to the classification for the duties actually performed. Paying a worker at a lower classification to cut labor costs is one of the most common violations the Department investigates.⁹ The annual determination is finalized no later than thirty days before July 1, and updated rates apply retroactively to July 1 including any monthly corrections.⁸

What the Rate Includes: Base Wage Plus Supplements

Total compensation on a public work project has two parts. The base hourly wage is paid in cash. Supplements cover everything else the statute treats as remuneration: health and welfare benefits, retirement contributions, non-occupational disability coverage, vacation and holiday pay, life insurance, and apprenticeship training funds.² Shortchanging supplements is treated the same as underpaying the base wage.

A contractor can satisfy the supplement obligation in one of two ways. The simplest is paying the full hourly supplement value as additional cash in the weekly paycheck. The alternative is making contributions to a bona fide benefit plan. When a benefit plan does not contribute on an hourly basis for every hour worked (public and private), the contractor must annualize the plan’s actual hourly credit. If the annualized credit is less than the supplement listed in the schedule, the difference has to be paid in cash each week.¹⁰ A cafeteria plan giving the worker the full dollar value of the supplement counts as cash.

The trap here is assuming that enrolling workers in a benefit plan automatically satisfies the requirement. It doesn’t. You need records showing the full supplement value was provided for every hour, and those records get audited.

Overtime

New York Labor Law limits the workday on public projects to eight hours and the workweek to five days. Work beyond those limits is only allowed in extraordinary emergencies such as fires, floods, or danger to life or property. Authorized overtime must be paid at the premium rate for the area where the work is performed.²

The prevailing wage schedule for each trade spells out its overtime rate. Most trades pay time-and-a-half beyond eight hours in a day or on Saturdays, and double time on Sundays and holidays, but the exact premium varies by trade and county. Check the specific schedule rather than assuming a universal multiplier.

Apprentice Rates and Ratios

Apprentices earn a reduced prevailing rate only if they are enrolled in a New York State Registered Apprenticeship program under a written contract approved and registered by the Department of Labor.¹¹ An unregistered apprentice must be paid the full journeyworker rate.

Each trade has an apprentice-to-journeyworker ratio in the schedule, written like “1:1, 1:3.” That means one apprentice is allowed for the first journeyworker on site, then one additional apprentice for every three more journeyworkers after that. A contractor would need four journeyworkers before hiring a second apprentice, seven before a third. Sample ratios from the current schedule:

Electrician (Inside): 1:1, 1:3
Carpenter (Building): 1:1, 1:4
Iron Worker: 1:1, 1:4
Plumber and Steamfitter: 1:1, 1:3
Roofer: 1:1, 1:2
Operating Engineer: 1:1, 1:5

Ratios vary widely, so operating engineering allows far fewer apprentices per journeyworker than roofing.¹²

Certified Payroll

Starting December 31, 2025, all contractors and subcontractors on Article 8 projects must submit certified payroll records electronically through the Department of Labor’s Certified Payroll portal, filed every 30 days.¹³ Submission requires the federal employer identification number, the NYS contractor registration number, and the project’s PRC number.

For each worker, the payroll lists name, address, Social Security number or birth date, hours and days worked, occupations, hourly wage rate, and supplements or benefits provided. Out-of-state contractors on contracts over $25,000 must keep payroll records on the project site.² Willfully failing to file payroll records can trigger a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per day, and the Department can direct the contracting agency to withhold up to 25% of contract payments (capped at $100,000) when a contractor ignores a payroll request for ten days.

Penalties for Underpayment

If the Bureau finds an underpayment, the contractor is ordered to pay all wages and supplements owed, plus interest at the rate set by the Superintendent of Financial Services under Section 14-a of the Banking Law. On top of that, the fiscal officer can add a civil penalty of up to 25% of the total underpayment, weighed against the employer’s size, good faith, history, and the severity of the shortfall.²

Criminal charges scale with the total amount underpaid across all workers:

Under $25,000: Class A misdemeanor
$25,000 to $100,000: Class E felony
$100,000 to $500,000: Class D felony
Over $500,000: Class C felony

Debarment is a separate consequence. A debarred contractor cannot bid on any public work or building service contract for five years. Debarment is triggered by two willful prevailing wage violations within six years, a single willful violation involving falsified payroll records or wage kickbacks, a felony conviction related to underpayment or record falsification on a public work project, or a second violation under the Fair Play Act. The Department publishes a searchable list of debarred contractors, and debarment can reach individual owners and, in some cases, successor entities or substantially owned affiliates.¹⁴⁹

When Federal Davis-Bacon Rates Also Apply

Projects receiving federal funding above $2,000 for construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works must also comply with the federal Davis-Bacon Act.¹⁵ Where both regimes apply — a highway project with federal grant money is a common example — the contractor must pay whichever rate is higher for each trade. Federal wage determinations are posted on SAM.gov and cover four categories: building, residential, highway, and heavy construction.¹⁶ Federal enforcement runs independently and can lead to contract termination, withholding of payments, and three-year debarment from federal contracts.¹⁷

Filing a Complaint if You Were Underpaid

Workers who believe they were paid less than the prevailing rate can file a complaint with the Bureau of Public Work and Prevailing Wage Enforcement, which then investigates whether the contractor paid the proper rates and supplements. Complaints can be submitted through the Department of Labor’s public work forms page or by contacting a district office at labor.sm.pwask@labor.ny.gov.¹⁸ A successful investigation ends in an order for the contractor to pay all wages and supplements owed, plus interest and any civil penalties. Pulling together your pay stubs, hours records, and the project’s PRC number before you file will speed things up.

1
New York State Department of Labor. Prevailing Wage Schedules and Updates
2
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code 220 – Hours, Wages and Supplements
3
New York State Department of Labor. Article 9 Frequently Asked Questions
4
New York State Senate. New York Labor Code 230 – Definitions
5
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Tax Law 421-A – Affordable New York Housing Program
6
New York State Department of Labor. Contracting Agency
7
New York State Department of Labor. Prevailing Wages Search
8
New York State Department of Labor. Prevailing Wage Schedules
9
New York State Department of Labor. Wage Theft – Bureau of Public Work and Prevailing Wage Enforcement Laws and Guidance
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New York State Department of Labor. Article 8 Frequently Asked Questions
11
New York State Department of Labor. Become an Apprentice
12
New York State Department of Labor. Introduction to the Prevailing Rate Schedule
13
New York State Department of Labor. Electronic Payroll Submission
14
New York State Department of Labor. NYSDOL Debarments
15
U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
16
U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon Wage Determination Conformance Request Guide
17
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet – The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
18
New York State Department of Labor. Bureau of Public Work and Prevailing Wage Enforcement