Missouri LS-57 payroll form: what it is and whether you have to use it
This page reads the form itself, the Division of Labor Standards (DLS) public works guidebook and instruction sheet, RSMo 290.290 and 8 CSR 30-3.010.
Last reviewed against the sources it cites
The short answer
No. The LS-57 is the Missouri Division of Labor Standards payroll form, and the Division's own guidebook says contractors may use it to make sure their records hold what the law requires. The law sets the content, not the form, and only for public works over $75,000. Your public body, MoDOT or an MHDC program may set its own format and schedule.
- The Division's public works guidebook says contractors may use the LS-57 to help make sure their payroll records hold the information the law requires, and neither RSMo 290.290 nor 8 CSR 30-3.010 names the form.
- The rule text has the successful bid contractors submit certified copies of their current payrolls to the public body each month and does not say what a subcontractor submits directly, while the LS-57 instruction sheet (footer 08-25) says payroll reports must be submitted each week.
- The LS-57 asks for each worker's name and address, while MoDOT's guidance says the payrolls it receives must not carry employee addresses or complete Social Security numbers.
- The copy of the form that DLS posts is the 11-22 revision, and the statement of compliance on its third page is signed, not notarized.
- The $100 per worker per calendar day forfeiture in RSMo 290.250.1 is triggered by paying a worker less than the specified wage rates, and RSMo 290.230.5(1) removes public works of $75,000 or less from it.
- Under RSMo 290.290.2, no public body may make final payment until each contractor and subcontractor has filed the affidavit of compliance, which DLS's PW-8 checklist identifies as the PW-4.
What the LS-57 is
The LS-57 is a three page payroll form from the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Page 1 is one week's payroll for up to eight workers, page 2 lists fringe benefits, and page 3 is the signed statement. The posted copy is footed 11-22 and DLS's separate instruction sheet 08-25.
Do you have to use it?
No. The DLS guidebook says contractors may use the form to help make sure their payroll records hold all the information the law requires.
The records duties and the penalties under sections 290.210 to 290.340 apply only to public works over $75,000 in total project cost (RSMo 290.230.5(1)). The false-statement law, RSMo 575.060, has no dollar threshold. Those sections do not apply when either the engineer's estimate or the accepted bid is $75,000 or less, and a change order past $75,000 brings the law in only for the part above it (290.230.7).
Over that line, the duty sits in the law. RSMo 290.290.1 requires full and accurate records of each worker's name, occupation and craft, hours and actual wages, open to inspection and kept in the state for one year after the work is done. 8 CSR 30-3.010(7), last amended effective July 30, 2019, adds address, rate of pay, daily and weekly hours and deductions, recorded by occupational title and by type of worker (journeyman, entry-level worker or federally registered apprentice). Neither names the LS-57. The form has no labeled column for type of worker, so ask the public body how to show it.
Who gets the payroll, and how often
The DLS contractors page tells you to submit certified payroll records to the public entity on the project.
| Source | Schedule | Format and signature |
|---|---|---|
| 8 CSR 30-3.010(7), last amended effective July 30, 2019 | Each month, successful bid contractors to the public body. The text does not say what a subcontractor submits directly | No form named |
| DLS instruction sheet, 08-25 | Each week. Write "No Work" for an idle week | The LS-57 fields |
| MoDOT guidance | Each week. The prime submits every subcontractor's payroll too, within 7 days of the payroll payment date | Digitally signed and sent electronically. No employee addresses or full Social Security numbers |
| MHDC multifamily developments where Davis-Bacon applies (HOME units, vouchers, RAD or CDBG funding) | Each week. Email the payroll first, then mail the original with an original signature | WH-347 recommended, with employee address and last four Social Security digits on each payroll. Substitutes must carry all WH-347 information, including the certification language |
The first two rows disagree, and the DLS pages quoted here do not say which controls. A weekly payroll meets either reading, but your contract can set its own schedule, so ask the public body in writing. The rule names successful bid contractors, so ask your prime how subcontractor payrolls are routed. The Missouri certified payroll guide covers the schedule in full.
The LS-57 asks for each worker's address, which MoDOT bars and MHDC requires, so confirm the format first. Our WH-347 guide covers the federal form MHDC recommends, and the state requirements table shows other states.
The LS-57 field by field
Page 1, header
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Contractor or Subcontractor box, address; Name of Public Body, address | Your firm's name and address, with the box that applies. Then the entity the work is for or that issued the contract. |
| Payroll No. | Start at 1 and number in order. Write "No Work" for an idle week. To correct a report, reuse its number and add "(rev)." |
| AWO | The Annual Wage Order number from your contract. It may differ from the current order on DLS's wage order page, because rates attached to the call for bids stay in effect for that contract (8 CSR 30-3.010(5)). |
| For Week Ending, Project and Location, Project or Contract No. | The workweek ending date, the project name and place, and the project or contract number. |
Page 1, one block per worker
| Column | What to enter |
|---|---|
| 1. Name and Address | Full name and address. The sheet says both are required. |
| 2. Occupational Title | The title from the list in 8 CSR 30-3.060. For more than one title, list hours and rates separately. |
| 3. Day and Date | Your seven day workweek, with hours per day on the ST, OT and DT rows. |
| 4. Total Hours | Hours on this project for the week. |
| 5. Hourly Rate | The actual straight time rate paid. The overtime rate goes in the overtime box. |
| 6. Gross Amt | Top corner: gross on this project. Lower corner: the week's gross on all projects. |
| 7. Deductions | FICA and Medicare, federal and state withholding, Other A, Other B, and the total. Explain the Other columns on page 2. |
| 8. Net Wages Paid | Take-home pay for the week, all projects. |
Page 2, fringe benefits
Use one row per worker, or one row if the amounts are identical. Columns run from Health and Welfare through Other D in dollars per hour, with a total and the plan or fund names. List payments you take as credit toward the prevailing rate.
Page 3, statement of compliance
An authorized agent signs. The signer states that they pay or supervise payment of the workers, that all were paid full weekly wages for the payroll period starting seven days before the week ending date with no rebates and no deductions beyond legally permissible ones, that rates are not below the wage order in the contract, and that each occupational title fits the work done. There is no notary block.
LS-57 is not PW-4 or LS-04
| Form | What it is |
|---|---|
| PW-4 | A sworn affidavit with a notary block. On public works over $75,000, each contractor and subcontractor must file one with the contracting public body at completion, and no final payment is allowed until it is on file (RSMo 290.290.2). DLS's public bodies page and contractors page point to the public body, while the guidebook says to submit it to the Division, which reads differently. File with the public body, keep a copy, and ask whether it wants you to copy DLS. |
| LS-04 | The Contractors' Wage Survey (guidebook), the data DLS uses to set rates (contractors page). You can submit it any time until January 31 of the year after your project. It is not a payroll. |
What a wrong or false payroll can cost
Only the second row, RSMo 575.060, applies to projects of $75,000 or less.
| Problem | Consequence |
|---|---|
| A worker is paid below the wage order rate | The contractor forfeits $100 to the public body for each worker for each calendar day or part of one, and the public body must withhold what is owed (RSMo 290.250.1). The penalty is not due until 45 days after DLS's notice of penalty, you may dispute it in writing within that time, and paying the back wages DLS or the arbitrator determines before DLS starts an enforcement action bars the penalty action (290.250.2 and .3). |
| A false signed statement | Under RSMo 575.060, it is a class B misdemeanor to submit, with the purpose to mislead a public servant, a written statement you do not believe to be true on a form bearing a notice, authorized by law, that false statements are punishable, if the falsity is as to a material fact. An honest mistake does not meet those elements. |
| Willfully breaking the law, record keeping included | For willful violation of any provision from 290.210 to 290.340, including the records duty in 290.290.1, a fine up to $500, up to six months, or both, and each day is a separate offense (RSMo 290.340). |
| A DLS notice of violation goes unmet | DLS may refer it to the attorney general, who must sue for a court order stopping further work or payments on the contract until the notice is met (RSMo 290.335). |
| A conviction under these sections | Barred from public works for one year after a first conviction and three years after each later violation and conviction (RSMo 290.330). |
What we do
We prepare certified payroll for public works contractors. Tell us about your project.
Questions
Is the LS-57 mandatory in Missouri?
Do I send the LS-57 to the state?
What do I submit for a week with no work?
Sources
Every figure on this page links to its source where it first appears. The full list, in order:
- the form itself labor.mo.gov
- public works guidebook labor.mo.gov
- instruction sheet labor.mo.gov
- RSMo 290.290 revisor.mo.gov
- 8 CSR 30-3.010 sos.mo.gov
- MoDOT's guidance epg.modot.org
- RSMo 290.250 revisor.mo.gov
- RSMo 290.230 revisor.mo.gov
- PW-8 checklist labor.mo.gov
- RSMo 575.060 revisor.mo.gov
- DLS contractors page labor.mo.gov
- MHDC multifamily developments mhdc.com
- wage order page laborwebapps.mo.gov
- affidavit labor.mo.gov
- public bodies page labor.mo.gov
- RSMo 290.340 revisor.mo.gov
- RSMo 290.335 revisor.mo.gov
- RSMo 290.330 revisor.mo.gov