Prevailing wage in NY is the minimum hourly pay — made up of a cash wage plus supplemental benefits — that contractors must provide to laborers, workers, and mechanics on qualifying public works projects. The New York State Department of Labor publishes the rates each year, broken out by trade and by county, and they run from July 1 through June 30. If you are working on a government-funded job or bidding on one, these rates set the floor for what workers must be paid.
When Prevailing Wage Applies
Not every construction job in New York is covered. Under Labor Law Section 220, a project qualifies as “public work” only if it meets a three-part test, and all three parts must be satisfied:
- A public agency — a state department, county, city, school district, public authority, or public benefit corporation — is a party to the contract.
- The contract primarily involves construction-type labor and is paid for with public money.
- The finished work is primarily for the use or benefit of the general public.
When all three are met, every contractor and subcontractor on the project must pay at least the prevailing rate for each worker’s trade and county.1Department of Labor. Bureau of Public Work and Prevailing Wage Enforcement Frequently Asked Questions Purely private developments generally fall outside the rule unless they receive substantial public subsidies or are tied to a government-led project that satisfies the test.
Article 8 vs. Article 9
Two sections of the Labor Law create prevailing wage obligations, and they cover different work.
Article 8 governs construction, reconstruction, and maintenance contracts. It applies whenever a public agency hires a contractor and the work involves laborers, workers, or mechanics performing hands-on construction or repair. This is the broader article and covers most public works jobs in the state.2Department of Labor. Article 8 Frequently Asked Questions
Article 9 covers building service contracts over $1,500 between a contractor and a public agency. Building service work includes guards, janitors, porters, window cleaners, groundskeepers, elevator operators, garbage collection, and office furniture moving. Maintenance of mechanical systems — electrical, plumbing, heating — stays under Article 8 even when done inside a building that has an Article 9 service contract.3Department of Labor. Article 9 Frequently Asked Questions
Who Is Covered
Coverage runs to laborers, workers, and mechanics across dozens of skilled trades: electricians, carpenters, plumbers, painters, bricklayers, boilermakers, ironworkers, operating engineers, asbestos handlers, hazardous material workers, and more.4Office of the Comptroller, City of New York. Construction Worker Prevailing Wage Schedule 2025-2026 Preliminary Architects, licensed professional engineers, and office-based project managers are not covered. The law protects the people doing the physical construction and maintenance work on site.
Your rate depends on the work you actually perform, not the title on your paycheck. A worker hired as a general laborer who spends the day running a crane must be paid the operating engineer rate for those hours. Classifying someone into a lower-paying trade to cut costs creates back-pay liability.
Apprentices
Only apprentices individually registered with the New York State Department of Labor can be paid at a reduced apprentice rate. An unregistered worker doing apprentice-level tasks must be paid the full journeyworker rate. Registered apprentices earn a percentage of the journeyworker rate that steps up as they progress, with the specific percentages laid out in each trade’s wage schedule.
Support Roles Like Flaggers
Support work on a prevailing wage project is not exempt because it looks less specialized. A flagger directing traffic around the job must be paid at the rate of the journeyworker or apprentice in the trade performing the underlying work on that project.4Office of the Comptroller, City of New York. Construction Worker Prevailing Wage Schedule 2025-2026 Preliminary
What the Rate Includes: Base Pay and Supplements
Prevailing wage compensation has two parts, and employers must deliver both.
The first is the hourly base rate, the cash you earn for each hour worked. The second is the supplemental (or fringe) benefit rate, which covers things like health insurance, pension contributions, paid vacation, holiday pay, and training fund contributions.
An employer can satisfy the supplement in one of two ways: by contributing the required amount into a legitimate benefit plan on your behalf, such as a union health and pension fund, or by paying the full cash equivalent directly in your paycheck if no formal plan exists.5Department of Labor. Wage Theft – Bureau of Public Work and Prevailing Wage Enforcement Laws and Guidance
Both pieces together make up the total prevailing wage. If the schedule for your trade and county lists a $50 base rate and $25 in supplements, the employer owes you $75 per hour in total value. That can be $50 cash plus a $25 benefit-plan contribution, or $75 all in cash with no benefits plan. Shorting either portion violates state law.
Tax Treatment of Cash Supplements
When supplements come to you as cash instead of plan contributions, that cash is taxable income. It adds to your gross wages and is subject to federal income tax withholding, Social Security, and Medicare, the same as your base pay.6Internal Revenue Service. Taxable Fringe Benefit Guide Contributions paid on your behalf into qualifying benefit plans generally are not taxed as current income. The total prevailing wage figure is the same either way, but your take-home can look quite different depending on how the employer delivers the supplement.
Overtime
Work beyond eight hours in a day or five days in a week on a New York public works project must be paid at a premium. The premium is not a flat 1.5 multiplier in every case. The law requires whatever overtime rate prevails locally for that trade, and the applicable rate is written into the wage schedule for each trade and county, typically 1.5 or 2 times the base hourly rate depending on local collective bargaining agreements.7New York State Senate. New York Consolidated Laws Labor Law LAB 220
The supplemental benefit amount per hour generally does not change for overtime hours. The premium applies to the cash wage. Check the project’s wage schedule for the exact overtime and supplement figures for your trade.
How Rates Are Set and Where to Find Them
The Bureau of Public Work inside the Department of Labor calculates and publishes rates for most of the state. For projects in New York City, the NYC Comptroller separately determines and publishes the applicable rates.5Department of Labor. Wage Theft – Bureau of Public Work and Prevailing Wage Enforcement Laws and Guidance New schedules take effect July 1 each year and run through June 30 of the following year.
Rates are county by county, reflecting local economic conditions and bargaining agreements. A carpenter’s rate in New York City is not the same as a carpenter’s rate in a rural upstate county, and the Department publishes separate schedules for general construction and residential construction within each county.8NYSDOL. Article 8 Prevailing Wage Schedules and Updates for 07/01/2025 – 06/30/2026
Each public works contract gets a prevailing wage schedule number that identifies the required pay scales for the duration of the job. If a contract runs across a July 1 boundary, the employer must adjust wages to match the updated schedule.
Federal Davis-Bacon Overlap
When a New York public works project is federally funded or carries a federal loan guarantee, a second layer of prevailing wage law can apply. The federal Davis-Bacon Act requires contractors on federally funded or assisted construction contracts over $2,000 to pay at least the locally prevailing wage as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor.9U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
On projects where both laws apply, the contractor must pay whichever rate is higher for each trade. Davis-Bacon also brings its own compliance obligations, including weekly certified payroll submissions on Form WH-347 with a signed statement of compliance.10U.S. Department of Labor. Instructions for Completing Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Weekly Certified Payroll Form WH-347 Compare the New York schedule and the federal wage determination side by side and pay the higher of the two for every classification.
Penalties and How to File a Complaint
Underpayment carries serious consequences. The Department of Labor can order payment of all wages and supplements owed, plus interest, and can add a civil penalty of up to 25 percent of the underpayment.7New York State Senate. New York Consolidated Laws Labor Law LAB 220 Beyond money, contractors face debarment: a five-year ban on bidding for any public work in the state, applied to both the business and the individual owner. Debarment can be triggered by two willful violations within six years, by a single willful violation involving falsified payroll or kickbacks of wages or supplements, or by a felony conviction tied to underpayment or record falsification on a public work project. A one-year bidding ban can also follow a misdemeanor conviction under the Workers’ Compensation Law or a first offense under the Fair Play Act.5Department of Labor. Wage Theft – Bureau of Public Work and Prevailing Wage Enforcement Laws and Guidance The same framework applies to Article 9 building service contracts, with its own five-year ban for violations under that article.3Department of Labor. Article 9 Frequently Asked Questions
Contractors must keep detailed payroll records for six years showing that both the base wage and the full supplement were paid for every worker and every hour, and must produce them for the Department on request.11New York State Department of Labor. Wage Theft Prevention Act Frequently Asked Questions
If you think you were underpaid on a public works project, you can file a claim with the Department of Labor on Form PW4. A third party who suspects a violation, such as a competing contractor or a union representative, can file on Form PW5. Both forms are on the Department’s website.12Department of Labor. File a Complaint The Bureau of Public Work investigates by reviewing payroll records and interviewing workers. If underpayment is confirmed, the Department can order payment of the difference with interest and civil penalties. Your own records of hours worked, duties performed, and pay received make a difference if a dispute arises.