Wisconsin Prevailing Wage: Repeal, Davis-Bacon, and Complaints

Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law was repealed in 2017, so no state wage floor applies to public construction projects bid in Wisconsin today. The only prevailing wage protection still covering Wisconsin construction workers is the federal Davis-Bacon Act, which requires locally prevailing wages on construction contracts that receive federal funding. If your project uses any federal money, you are entitled to the rate the U.S. Department of Labor has set for your trade and county. If it doesn’t, no prevailing wage obligation applies.

What Wisconsin Repealed and When

The rollback happened in two steps. In 2015 the legislature eliminated prevailing wage for projects funded by local units of government — cities, villages, counties, and school districts — with those changes taking effect January 1, 2017.¹

The 2017–2019 state budget (2017 Wisconsin Act 59) finished the repeal for state-funded work. Effective September 23, 2017, state prevailing wage requirements no longer apply to any state building or state highway project advertised for bid after that date.²³ The former statutes (Wis. Stat. 103.49 and 103.50) were repealed in part and renumbered, and the administrative chapter that implemented them, DWD 290, states that it does not apply to projects begun after January 1, 2017.¹ As of 2026, no legislation has reinstated a Wisconsin state prevailing wage.

When Davis-Bacon Still Applies to Wisconsin Projects

The federal Davis-Bacon Act covers contractors and subcontractors on federally funded or federally assisted construction contracts over $2,000, requiring them to pay no less than the locally prevailing wage rates set by the U.S. Secretary of Labor.⁴ That $2,000 threshold is written into the statute and has never been raised, so it captures essentially every federally funded job.

In Wisconsin, the kinds of projects that commonly trigger Davis-Bacon include:

Roads, bridges, and highway work receiving Federal Highway Administration funding through WisDOT.
Clean water and drinking water infrastructure funded through EPA State Revolving Fund loans.
Federal courthouses, post offices, military facilities, and other federally funded buildings.
Affordable housing and community development projects receiving HUD funding.

The threshold question is whether any federal money is in the contract. If any portion is federally funded, Davis-Bacon applies to the entire contract, not just the federal share.⁵ Purely state-funded or privately funded projects carry no prevailing wage obligation in Wisconsin.

How Your Rate Is Set and Where to Find It

The U.S. Department of Labor sets rates by surveying wages paid to construction workers on similar projects in the same area. Rates are published as “wage determinations” and sorted by state, county, and construction type: building, residential, highway, or heavy.⁵ A highway rate in Milwaukee County will not match a building rate in Marathon County.

You can look up the applicable wage determination for a specific project on SAM.gov.⁶ The determination that applies to your job is also part of the bidding documents and must be physically posted at the job site where workers can see it.⁴ Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development has confirmed that, after the state repeal, the prevailing wage rates applicable to state agency work are those issued by the U.S. Department of Labor under Davis-Bacon.⁷

What Makes Up the Rate

A Davis-Bacon wage rate has two parts: a basic hourly rate (cash paid directly to the worker) and a fringe benefit rate (contributions the employer makes toward health insurance, pension, vacation, or similar benefits). The total of both parts is the minimum the contractor must provide.

The contractor can satisfy the fringe portion by paying into a qualifying benefit plan, paying that amount as additional cash wages, or combining both. If the plan costs less per hour than the determination requires, the difference must be paid to the worker in cash. The statute is written to allow any mix that adds up to the required total.⁴

Overtime

Overtime trips up some contractors. The time-and-a-half premium is calculated on the basic hourly rate only, not on the total including fringe. The fringe contribution must still be paid for every hour worked, overtime included, but it is not multiplied by 1.5.⁸ Cash paid in lieu of fringe is also excluded from the overtime calculation.

A Worked Example

Say a wage determination lists an electrician’s rate as $38.00 basic plus $15.50 in fringe. A straight-time hour owes $53.50 total. An overtime hour owes $57.00 for the basic rate ($38.00 × 1.5) plus the same $15.50 in fringe, for $72.50. The fringe portion stays flat no matter how many hours you work.

Apprentice Pay

Apprentices can be paid below the full journeyworker rate, but only under strict conditions. The apprentice must be individually registered in a program approved by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship or by a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency. Pay is a percentage of the journeyworker’s basic hourly rate, set by the apprentice’s level in the program.⁹

Contractors are also limited in how many apprentices they can have on site relative to journeyworkers. The allowable ratio comes from the registered program, and compliance is measured daily, not weekly. If a contractor exceeds the ratio, the extra apprentices must be paid the full journeyworker rate for the work they performed.⁹ Fringe benefits for apprentices follow whatever the program specifies; if the program is silent, the apprentice gets the full fringe amount on the wage determination.

What You Should See on a Covered Job Site

Contractors on Davis-Bacon jobs must post two items in a visible, accessible spot: the WH-1321 “Worker Rights Under the Davis-Bacon Act” poster and the applicable wage determination, including any additional classifications approved for the project.¹⁰ If you’re on a federally funded site and don’t see them, that is worth raising with the project manager or the contracting agency.

Behind the scenes, contractors and subcontractors must submit certified payroll weekly. The specific form (WH-347) is optional, but the weekly submission is required under the Copeland Act and implementing regulations, and each report must carry a signed Statement of Compliance confirming workers were paid the required prevailing wage.¹¹ Those records are what an investigator reviews if a worker complains.

Prime Contractor Liability

On a federally funded project, the prime contractor is jointly and severally liable for prevailing wage violations by any subcontractor or lower-tier subcontractor. If a subcontractor underpays and can’t or won’t make it right, the prime is on the hook for the back wages.¹² The contracting agency can also withhold payments owed to the prime to cover wages due workers of lower-tier subs.⁴ For a worker whose direct employer is a small subcontractor with limited resources, that liability chain means there’s a deeper pocket responsible for correct pay.

Filing a Complaint if You’ve Been Underpaid

If you believe you were underpaid on a federally funded Wisconsin project, the complaint goes to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, not to a state agency. You can file by calling WHD at 1-866-487-9243 or visiting the nearest WHD office.¹³

You’ll want your name and contact information, the company name and location, the manager’s or owner’s name, a description of the work you performed, and details on how and when you were paid. Pay stubs, your own hours records, and notes on the employer’s pay practices make the complaint stronger. The WHD will investigate by pulling certified payroll and comparing it against the wage determination.

One boundary worth knowing: if your issue is a regular unpaid-wages dispute unrelated to a federal project, Wisconsin’s DWD still handles those claims, and they must be filed within two years of when the wages were scheduled to be paid.¹⁴ Prevailing wage underpayment on a Davis-Bacon job is a federal matter.

Penalties

The most common remedy is back pay — the contractor pays the difference between what you were paid and what you should have been paid. For overtime violations under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, the contractor also owes liquidated damages on a per-worker, per-day basis, in an amount the Department of Labor adjusts annually.¹²

The most severe penalty is debarment. A contractor found to have disregarded its obligations to workers or subcontractors can be declared ineligible for any federal or federally assisted contracts for three years, with no early removal.¹² Violations can also be grounds for terminating the contract outright. For a construction company that depends on government work, three years off the eligibility list is close to a shutdown.

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Chapter DWD 290
2
Wisconsin Department of Administration. Prevailing Wage
3
Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Prevailing Wage Compliance
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 40 USC 3142
5
Wisconsin DNR. Complying with Davis-Bacon Requirements
6
SAM.gov. Wage Determinations
7
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Prevailing Wage Overview
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 66E – The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon Compliance Principles
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon Poster (Government Construction)
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Instructions For Completing Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Weekly Payroll
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Investigative Procedures and Remedies on Davis-Bacon Contracts
13
U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint
14
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. How to File a Wage Claim