Payroll rejected in LCPtracker: why it happens and how to fix and resubmit it

What blocks you before you certify, and what happens after you submit

People search "rejected" and mean several different things. Some problems stop you before you can certify. A rejection comes after you submit. The fix, and the person to ask, differ.

Two things can leave you unable to reach the Statement of Compliance. A validation notice set to Enforce stops you (Validation Settings article). Required eDocuments that were never submitted or have expired also stop you, and you clear that by uploading them (3. Certification article), though a required document may have a delay set, such as 30 days, before payrolls are blocked (eDocuments Tab article). At the Statement of Compliance itself, the standard setting needs the 4a or 4b box checked for how fringes were paid before the system lets you certify (Department Settings), the remarks field is mandatory when you recertify, and you finish with your eSignature (Quick Start Guide).

On a Caltrans contract run in LCPtracker, the state and federal-aid LCPtracker pre-job checklists (both revised 1/2026) say Caltrans form CEM-2501, the Fringe Benefit Statement, must be completed, signed and uploaded into LCPtracker "before a payroll submission will be permitted." The checklists state that requirement; they do not say how LCPtracker enforces it. If that is your block, see our CEM-2501 guide.

A rejection comes later: an Administrator, or a Prime Approver where the Agency has turned that role on, rejects a payroll you already submitted (Prime Approver Guide). A clean screen does not mean nothing was flagged. An Administrator can set a validation to Hide, which keeps the notice from you; it shows on the Administrator's Violations tab (Validation Settings article), and on a Prime Approver's unless the Agency hides it from them too (Prime Approver Guide). That guide says a hidden validation does not tell the contractor about a mistake or an underpaid employee.

Rejection is also not the only Administrator Notice, and LCPtracker's articles list the types differently. The Administrator Notices article lists three built-in types: Rejection, Apprentice Rejection and Permit Edit Notice. The Add/Edit Notice Type article lists five system-defined types, adding Payroll Notice and eDocument Notice, and says an eDocument Notice is generated automatically when an Agency or Admin rejects an eDocument. An Apprentice Rejection comes from rejecting an apprentice, not a payroll. Check the notice type before you assume your payroll was rejected.

Blocked before you certify: what the validation checks test

Validations are the math and logic checks LCPtracker runs on payroll data. The Administrator decides whether each runs and whether it is enforced. The vendor's recommended defaults make VAL_4 a state-funded or mandatory-training check and VAL_6 not a Davis-Bacon check, so which ones fire depends on the project's funding.

The Validation Settings article says VAL_31 forces contractors to resolve upload errors, usually because craft matching was never set up. Our upload template errors guide covers that.

Clearing a notice

On the 2. Notices tab, click Edit beside the employee and scroll down to read the notice (Quick Start Guide). If you do not understand the notice, the same guide points you to LCPtracker Support. The Validation Settings article says the rules can misjudge wages when benefits are a percentage of pay and overtime is worked.

Do not change a figure just to clear a notice. If you believe a wage rate behind the notice is wrong, see "Who to call" below. The Show Info person is the Prime or Administrator contact the Show Info button gives you beside each project on your Projects tab.

LCPtracker labels each item either a Notice, which must be corrected before you can submit, or a Warning, which alerts you to review it (Payroll Notices article). That is how to read the contractor guides' rule that all notices must be cleared to certify (Quick Start Guide, Certification article), while a Warning with Alert lets you certify (Validation Settings article). Check which label your screen shows. The Administrator chose that setting, so the Show Info person can tell you which applies to your project.

Rejected after you submit

LCPtracker creates a Rejection notice automatically when the administrator rejects a certified payroll report (Administrator Notices article). Where the Agency uses a Prime Approver, that person is asked for a reason or message to send with a rejection, and you get an admin notice in your account and an email with that message (Prime Approver Guide). An Administrator's rejection can arrive with no message at all; see "Rejected with no reason given" below. The Certifications Tab article says REJECTED emails you by default and shows a red message at login, but an administrator can turn the email off (Department Settings). Read the notice under Notices, Administrator Notices, Details (contractor referral guide). Respond to every notice. The Administrator Notices article says only the Administrator can close one, while the Prime Approver Guide shows a close button for a Prime Approver. Neither lists a way for the contractor to close one.

Why was it rejected?

LCPtracker's help articles do not publish a list of rejection reasons. Whatever message the notice carries is the authority, and it may carry none. Do not trust a list of "common rejection reasons" on any website, this one included.

How to fix and resubmit a rejected payroll

1. Read the notice. Notices, Administrator Notices, Details. If it gives no reason, see "Rejected with no reason given" below before you edit anything.
2. Open the payroll. Go to Projects, Certified Payrolls, choose the project and click Edit beside the week. Rejected and Permit Edit payrolls show there (Certification article).
3. Make the change. You can add, edit or delete records, update the payroll number and change the Final status (How do I edit a CPR). A wrong week-end date or project cannot be edited: an administrator, not you, must delete the whole week so you can re-enter it, so ask the Show Info person.
4. Recertify. Changed records show as Records to be Recertified, and you recertify at the bottom (How do I edit a CPR). The remarks field is mandatory when you recertify. Enter your eSignature and Save (Quick Start Guide). If it fails, see our eSignature guide.
5. Check the status. The system assigns RESUBMITTED and keeps the older version as superseded. A change to only the payroll number or Final status gets UPDATED instead (Certifications Tab article).

Do not leave a rejection open: administrators have a CPR Status Report that lists rejected payrolls.

On a California job, the Quick Start Guide treats the DIR upload as a separate step. If your correction changes figures you already sent to DIR, see LCPtracker versus DIR and how to amend a certified payroll report.

When the edit window has closed: Permit Edit

The system locks a submitted payroll after the number of days the Administrator set in Department Settings. To unlock it, the Administrator sets the status to PERMIT EDIT, and you then have the same number of days to correct it again (Certifications Tab article). Where the Agency has turned on the Prime Approver role, your Prime Approver can do it too, by changing the Accept Status to Permit Edit, and you receive an admin notice and an email. The Agency may stop a Prime Approver from doing so once the Agency has accepted the payroll (Prime Approver Guide). LCPtracker cannot give permission to edit. Some databases lock a payroll once it is Accepted, and you then ask the Agency or Admin for Permit Edit (Department Settings).

Rejected with no reason given

LCPtracker says it happens: an Administrator occasionally rejects a payroll and lists no reason. If the notice's Details show nothing, no explanation, or only the word rejected, contact the Show Info person. If the Administrator does explain the rejection, the vendor says Support "can assist and there should be no need to contact the 'Show Info' person." Where the Agency uses a Prime Approver, the Prime Approver Guide says the Agency picks the first contact and typically lists the prime contractor. Give the project, week-end date and payroll number, ask what must change, and ask whether the week counts as on time while it is rejected.

Who to call: the Show Info person or LCPtracker Support

Apart from the first row, which follows the Quick Start Guide, the rows follow the contractor referral guide. The vendor says its staff in some cases "legally cannot answer your questions" and must refer you to the administrator. Support is at 714-669-0052 option 4, Support@LCPtracker.com or live chat, Monday through Friday, 5:00am to 5:30pm PST. Give your company name, User ID, name, phone number and the issue. Support cannot find your account from a company name or project alone (Quick Start Guide).

If your job is a Caltrans contract run in LCPtracker

The Caltrans state and federal-aid LCPtracker pre-job checklists (both revised 1/2026) say the prime contractor is the prime approver and approves every subcontractor payroll before Caltrans reviews it, so a subcontractor's rejection may come from your prime. Caltrans's other checklists, such as the federal-aid contract checklist, describe electronic payroll as unmodifiable PDF with no prime-approver step, and the Caltrans File Transfer quick guide says File Transfer is separate from projects using LCPtracker Pro. Chapter 16 of the Caltrans Labor Compliance Manual (read November 4, 2026) tells staff to send a notice of delinquent or inadequate payroll and, depending on the violation, to request a supplemental payroll correcting it. It also says incorrect or incomplete payrolls should not be returned to the contractor for revision, though corrections in ink with initials are allowed. It does not mention LCPtracker or REJECTED, so it does not say how a correction works in the portal. Follow the message you received and ask the Show Info contact. For a Caltrans notice, see our delinquent payroll notice guide.

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WellStanding prepares the payroll documents your LCPtracker job needs from the payroll export you already run, and a person reviews them. You review and sign; the certification is always yours and we never sign for you.

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