Tekin Works › Free tools › Fringe & overtime
Prevailing wage fringe credit &
the overtime floor it moves
One worker, one week, one wage determination. This works out whether the fringe obligation was actually discharged — and then the part a spreadsheet almost never catches: what happens to the overtime rate the moment you close the gap with cash.
Why the overtime rate moves when you pay a fringe in cash
The one mechanic that makes certified payroll different from ordinary payroll.
A wage determination gives you two numbers for each classification: a basic hourly rate and a fringe rate. You owe both, on every hour worked on the contract. The basic rate has to be cash. The fringe you may discharge three ways — contributions to a bona fide plan, cash on the cheque, or by paying a cash wage above the basic rate and crediting the excess.
Those three look interchangeable in a spreadsheet. They are not, and the difference lands on the overtime line. Cash paid in lieu of fringes is part of the regular rate. A contribution to a bona fide plan is not. Close a fringe gap with cash and you have raised the floor under every overtime hour that worker put in that week — creating a second shortfall where there was one.
It is an easy thing to miss, because both corrections look identical in the ledger and only one of them has a consequence. A worker whose pension election runs a little below the rest of the crew's comes up short on fringe. Nothing on a timesheet shows it. Someone tops them up in cash, the fringe column balances, and the overtime has been quietly wrong from that keystroke onward — on a form that carries a signed statement of compliance.
The calculator above shows you both sides of that trade before you commit to it. Put a fringe shortfall in and it will price what closing it in cash does to the overtime bill.
What this does not do
Said plainly, because a tool that only ever agrees with you is not worth using.
- It does not look up wage determinations. You type the rates in. It has no connection to SAM.gov and no schedule of its own, so it cannot tell you that you used the wrong classification or a superseded modification.
- It does not test apprentice ratios. Ratios are tested per day, not averaged over the week, and each day out of ratio is its own violation. That needs the whole crew's hours, not one worker's.
- It does not know state schedules. Several states run their own prevailing wage law, with daily overtime and their own reporting. This is the federal arithmetic only.
- It does not decide whether a plan is bona fide. It takes your word for the credit. An expense reimbursement or a tool allowance is not a fringe benefit and should not be entered here at all.
- It does not produce a WH-347 or a statement of compliance, and it keeps no record of anything you type.
Common questions
Can fringe benefit contributions make up a shortfall in the basic hourly rate?
No. The basic hourly rate on the determination has to be paid in cash. Contributions to a bona fide plan discharge the fringe obligation and nothing else, so a plan credit cannot cure a cash shortfall. It works in the other direction, though — pay a cash wage above the basic rate and the excess can be credited against the fringe.
Does cash paid in lieu of fringes count toward the overtime rate?
Yes, and it is the most expensive thing people get wrong here. Cash paid in lieu of fringes is part of the regular rate, so the moment you top a worker up in cash you have raised the floor under every overtime hour they worked that week. A contribution to a bona fide plan does not do that. Two ways of paying the same shortfall, two different overtime bills.
Is the fringe owed on overtime hours as well?
The fringe obligation attaches to every hour worked on the covered contract, overtime included. What it does not attract is the premium: fringes are owed at their straight-time value on overtime hours, not at one and a half times.
Is a tool allowance or a uniform reimbursement a fringe benefit?
No. A reimbursement for an expense incurred for the employer's benefit is not a fringe benefit and may not be credited at all. If it has been credited, every hour it was claimed on is wrong — not just the rate. Do not enter it in the plan credit field.
Does this replace certified payroll software?
No, and it is not trying to. It checks one worker for one week. It does not test apprentice ratios, does not look up wage determinations, does not produce a WH-347, and does not know about state prevailing wage schedules. Those are the reasons the paid system exists.
If it is the whole book and not one worker
This page checks one worker for one week. Prevail is the finished system that does it for every worker on every payroll: wage determinations applied per project and per week, fringe credits tested against the schedule, apprentice ratios tested per day, a WH-347 with its statement of compliance and the 4(a)/4(b)/4(c) election, and a reviewer portal the general contractor opens without an account.
It is live, loaded with eleven weeks of a drywall subcontractor's history — including one week that does not add up. There is a written five-minute walkthrough and the demo login is on the page. No call, no signup, no form.