Federal construction contracts in excess of $2,000 are subject to the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires payment of locally "prevailing wages" including the "anticipated cost of prevailing benefits." Generally this is expressed as a per-hour wage and per-hour cash equivalent value of benefits, and is often based on a union scale. Prevailing wages are set by the U.S. Department of Labor and are included in the bid specifications of covered contracts.

Many contractors pay the fringe benefit portion of the prevailing wage as additional cash wages, believing it's the easiest way to comply with the law.

The Problem

Paying the fringe as additional cash wages costs you money!

The Solution

Allocating this amount to a bona fide benefit plan or plans results in significant cost savings. When the fringe portion of the prevailing wage is used to provide benefits for hourly workers, this amount is not subject to payroll costs such as:

• FICA
• FUTA
• State unemployment taxes
• Workers compensation premiums
• Public liability premiums

With The Contractors Plan from Fringe Benefit Group, you can provide valuable benefits such as retirement, medical, dental, vision and life insurance plans for your employees; and at the same time reap these benefits for your company:

• Reduce payroll burden
• Narrow the gap between wages paid on private work and government contracts
• Shave dollars off your bids, making them more profitable and increasing your odds of winning
• Increase profits
• Increase your ability as a company owner to contribute to your own retirement accounts using our expert plan design
• Get support from our in-house team of compliance experts

Use our calculator to see how much we can save you.

Use the links below to get further useful information pertaining to the Davis-Bacon Act.