Union payroll
Union payroll is payroll run under one or more collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), whose negotiated terms replace your ordinary pay rules for the covered classifications.
Every agreement’s wage scale fixes the rate for each local and classification with a scheduled effective date, so an increase lands mid-year and mid-project. Retroactive adjustments are common when an agreement settles after its effective date. Overtime under an agreement can begin earlier than the federal weekly threshold. It can include daily overtime, double time after a set hour, and premium pay for Saturday, Sunday, or holiday work. An agreement can be more generous than federal law but cannot provide less.
What does union payroll owe beyond the paycheck?
Remittance is the second half of every union payroll run. Dues are paid to the local on the agreement’s schedule. Each fringe fund expects its own periodic remittance report of hours, rates, and covered employees. A late or mismatched report draws interest and an audit from the fund, not a tax agency. On public projects the same hours feed certified payrollCertified payroll. Certified payroll is the weekly payroll report you submit on a federal public works project to prove you paid each employee the required prevailing wage.Click to open the term, where fringe can be credited against the prevailing wagePrevailing wage. Prevailing wage is the minimum hourly rate and fringe benefits a government agency sets for each job classification on covered public contracts.Click to open the term or paid as cash.
| REMITTANCE | PAID FROM | INCLUDES |
|---|---|---|
| Dues checkoff | Employee pay, under the agreement and a signed authorization | Dues (a flat amount per hour worked or a percentage of gross), initiation fees, assessments |
| Fringe fund contributions | Employer money to multiemployer trust funds, usually per hour worked | Pension, health and welfare, apprenticeship or training, vacation |
General information, not legal or tax advice. Apply current federal and state rules with qualified guidance.