Montana certified payroll: who requires it and where it goes

A payroll request from DLI, or a held MDT estimate

After a wage violation complaint, you have 5 days from receiving DLI's payroll request to provide the employee's payroll records (18-2-423); if you refuse, the commissioner can subpoena them. For a held MDT estimate, see the MDT section.

Does Montana require certified payroll?

Not as a routine DLI submission. Every public works contract must carry a clause requiring you to keep payroll records ready to certify (18-2-422), and when a complaint alleges noncompliance with it, DLI may require the project to submit certified copies (18-2-423). Find your row:

This part of the state act, which includes 18-2-423, does not apply where federal law determines the standard prevailing rate (18-2-402(2)). On a federally funded transportation contract, MDT says its Labor Compliance office accepts complaints about nonpayment of prevailing wages (MDT's prevailing wage page). See our WH-347 guide and state table.

State and local jobs over $25,000

A public works contract is one for construction services let by the state, county, municipality, school district or political subdivision, or for nonconstruction services let by the state, county, municipality or political subdivision, with a total cost in excess of $25,000 (18-2-401(11)(a)). Human services contracts of the Department of Public Health and Human Services are excluded (18-2-401(11)(b)). DLI's overview says $25,000 or more; the statute controls, so exactly $25,000 is outside it. If a public works contract omits the provisions 18-2-422 requires, the wage obligation moves to the agency (18-2-403(9)).

Hourly employees must be paid weekly (18-2-423). Contracts must carry a clause requiring you to keep payroll records readily capable of being certified for at least 3 years after you finish your work (18-2-422(2)). A statement of all wages and fringe benefits must be posted at the site by the first day of work (18-2-406).

DLI's FAQ defines a certified payroll as a copy of the weekly payroll the employer has signed to affirm that it is correct and complete, that job classifications conform with the work performed, and that wages paid are not less than the applicable rates. The statute sets the 5 days only for a wage violation complaint, and no deadline for the certified copies DLI may require after a noncompliance complaint. DLI's overview links its prevailing wage administrative rules; that site could not be read when this page was written, so this page does not describe them.

When it goes wrong

• Penalties. Underpayers forfeit to the worker the wages owed plus $25 a day, and to DLI up to 20% of delinquent wages plus fringe benefits and costs (18-2-407(1), subject to 18-2-403).
• Money held. Every public works contract keeps at least $1,000 of the price until it ends (18-2-404(2)). On any failure to comply with the part, the agency must also retain $1,000 as liquidated damages, and for gross negligence the commissioner may retain up to $10,000 more (18-2-432(1)).
• Debarment. A commissioner's finding of aggravated or willful violation brings ineligibility for up to 3 years after final judgment (18-2-432(2)).

MDT contracts that carry the CRL specification: weekly payroll in AASHTOWare CRL

MDT's CRL resources page says MDT is transitioning to AASHTOWare CRL from the hard copy paper process and that contracts will have a special provision if the new system applies. Subsection 108.01.4 carries the CRL duty in the 2025 Edition books, from the January 9, 2025 book onward; the 2020 Edition V5.1, still listed on MDT's specifications page, has no CRL text. So the duty comes from 108.01.4 or from a special provision; check your contract.

Where it applies, 108.01.4(A) of the 2025 Edition specifications, effective June 25, 2026 requires the prime and every subcontractor, regardless of tier, to submit certified payrolls in AASHTOWare Project Civil Rights and Labor (CRL) and to pay and submit payrolls weekly. The prime must ensure subs submit within 7 calendar days following the contractor's scheduled payment date.

The withholding table

Under 108.01.4(C) of the specification books effective January 15, 2026 and June 25, 2026, a contract in non-compliance status takes a monthly withholding from the progress estimate under Table 108-2, more for continued non-compliance, and the whole estimate if the withholding is larger.

Withholdings become permanent if outstanding payrolls are not submitted before you submit the Final Acceptance and the Final Labor Certificate is issued with a non-compliant finding. The specification does not define non-compliance status. The June 26, 2025 edition has no payroll withholding.

Get CRL access before work

1. Request access. Hold an MDT Vendor Number, then submit the CRL Access Request Form with a legal officer's attestation that the person may sign and submit.
2. Wait for the login, which 108.01.4(A)(1) requires before work. MDT's CRL guide, updated June 22, 2023, says a minimum of 2 business days.

Where MDT's documents disagree

• The clock. The specification counts from the scheduled payment date. On federal-aid projects, MDT's manual (January 5, 2023) has the prime submit every weekly payroll within 7 days after the regular payment date, and its Davis-Bacon guide (July 9, 2019) counts 7 days from the payroll period end date, the earlier date when payment follows it. Ask MDT in writing which applies; without an answer, use the earlier.
• Where payrolls go. The manual and the guide, which cover federal-aid projects, send payrolls to the MDT engineering project manager (EPM), and the guide does not mention CRL; the specification and CRL guide use CRL. Ask your project manager which applies.
• Paper. The CRL guide says paper payrolls will not be accepted, while the resources page says contracts carry a special provision where CRL applies. The June 25, 2026 FHWA-1273 that MDT hosts says an agency requiring an electronic system must permit other methods where a contractor is unable or limited in its ability to use or access it (paragraph 3.b.(1)); ask MDT in writing. See FHWA-1273 changes.

City contracts: Billings and Missoula

Two documents, not citywide rules. Billings: Section 01.42.50 of Addendum 1, April 2, 2026 for one park project has the contractor and each sub keep weekly certified payroll and submit it to the owner on request. Missoula: the City's example agreement, a 2025 template, has you keep records ready to certify under 18-2-423 for 3 years and forwards infractions to DLI. It sets no scheduled submission.

The Construction Contractor License since January 1, 2026

DLI's HB 239 notice says registration became a license on January 1, 2026. Under 37-45-201(1) you may not engage in business as a construction contractor without a license, with exemptions in 37-45-104. The public works link is a penalty: unprofessional conduct under 37-45-301 carries up to $5,000 and a suspension or debarment of rights to public works contracts (37-45-302(1)).

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