Prevailing Wage Indiana: What Applies After the 2015 Repeal

Last Updated: August 2026

Indiana does not have a state prevailing wage law. The Common Construction Wage Act was repealed effective July 1, 2015, and no state agency sets or enforces prevailing wage rates today.

Repeal removed the state layer, but it did not eliminate prevailing wage requirements in Indiana. The Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts still apply to covered federally funded or assisted construction, requiring applicable wage determinations and weekly certified payroll.

The same 2015 legislation that repealed the wage scale also added contractor requirements under Indiana Code 5-16-13 that remain in effect.

Not working in Indiana? Check out our full state-by-state certified payroll guide.

Does Indiana Have a Prevailing Wage Law?

No. Indiana has no state prevailing wage law and publishes no state wage rate schedule.

Prevailing wage is the minimum hourly wage and fringe benefit rate contractors must pay workers on certain publicly funded construction projects, set by classification and geographic area. In states with their own law, the state labor department publishes those rates. Indiana does not.

The funding source determines whether prevailing wage applies. Public works funded entirely by state or local dollars do not carry an Indiana prevailing wage requirement. Covered federal contracts and federally assisted projects subject to a Related Act follow federal Davis-Bacon wage and reporting requirements.

For covered work, contractors need the applicable federal Davis-Bacon wage determination for the project county and construction type. Indiana does not publish a separate state rate table. For more on how these frameworks differ, see our guide to state and federal prevailing wage laws.

The 2015 Common Construction Wage Repeal

Indiana's prevailing wage law was called the Common Construction Wage Act, and it dated back to 1935. Under the CCW, local committees made up of labor and contractor representatives set county-level wage scales for public works contracts above $350,000. Highway, street, and bridge projects run by the Indiana Department of Transportation were already exempt.

House Enrolled Act 1019 repealed the law effective July 1, 2015.

Contractors on Common Construction Wage projects awarded before July 1, 2015, must still comply with the law as it existed before repeal. Workers on those projects remain entitled to the established wage and fringe rates for the duration of the job, although this exception is unlikely to affect active work today.

What the Repeal Preempted

The repeal preempted public agencies from establishing, mandating, or otherwise requiring a wage scale or wage schedule for public works contracts awarded after July 1, 2015, unless federal or state law provides otherwise.

The preemption applies to local governments. Indiana cities and counties cannot adopt their own prevailing wage ordinances, so contractors do not need to check for a separate municipal wage schedule.

Local agencies may still establish contracting standards unrelated to wage rates. Some Indiana jurisdictions use responsible bidder ordinances covering licensing, apprenticeship participation, and staffing. Confirm these requirements with the awarding agency before bidding.

Federal Davis-Bacon: The Standard That Still Applies in Indiana

The 2015 repeal did not affect work covered by the Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts. Davis-Bacon applies to covered federal construction contracts over $2,000, while Related Acts extend its labor standards to certain federally assisted projects. Covered work requires prevailing wage rates, weekly certified payroll, and supporting payroll records.

Federal funding or assistance may support several types of Indiana construction projects:

INDOT federal-aid highway and bridge work
State Revolving Fund water and sewer projects administered through the Indiana Finance Authority
HUD-assisted housing and community development projects
Infrastructure work funded through federal programs
Facility and equipment projects backed by federal grants

Federal assistance may apply even when the awarding agency is a county or school district. Confirm the funding source and applicable labor standards with the awarding agency before bidding.

For a deeper walkthrough of the federal requirements, see our Davis-Bacon guide and our breakdown of Form WH-347.

There is no Indiana Department of Labor rate schedule to look up. The only rates that apply are federal Davis-Bacon wage determinations, published by the U.S. Department of Labor rather than the state.

The U.S. Department of Labor issues Davis-Bacon wage determinations by county and construction type using wage survey data. Under Indiana’s former Common Construction Wage law, local committees instead established rates for individual projects.

To find the applicable rate:

Identify the project county. Rates are issued by county, and they vary across Indiana's 92 counties. A determination for Lake, Marion, or Allen County will generally look different from one covering a rural southern county.
Confirm the construction type. Wage determinations are organized as building, heavy, highway, or residential. Using the wrong one produces the wrong rates even if the county is correct.
Pull the current determination from SAM.gov. Note the determination number and the modification date. Determinations get updated, and the version that applies depends on when the contract was awarded.
Match each worker to a classification. Electricians, pipefitters, carpenters, HVAC technicians, roofers, concrete workers, and painters all carry separate rates within the same determination.

Every classification lists two numbers: a base hourly rate and a fringe benefit rate. You can meet the fringe portion through bona fide benefit plans, pay it as cash, or use a combination, but it has to be paid one way or the other. Our fringe benefits guide covers how that calculation works.

How Indiana Compares to Neighboring States

Contractors working across state lines must follow the requirements that apply in each project location.

State	State prevailing wage law?	What that means
Indiana	No, repealed 2015	Federal Davis-Bacon only
Illinois	Yes	County rates set by IDOL, Certified Transcript of Payroll required
Michigan	Yes, reinstated 2024	State-funded projects; contractor registration and electronic certified payroll through LCPtracker
Kentucky	No, repealed 2017	Federal Davis-Bacon only
Wisconsin	No, repealed 2017	Federal Davis-Bacon only

A crew working in Indiana and a neighboring state may be subject to different rates, forms, and filing deadlines during the same payroll week. A standardized compliance process can help contractors apply the correct requirements to each project. For additional state-specific requirements, see our state-by-state certified payroll guide.

Indiana Public Works Requirements That Survived the Repeal

Indiana Code 5-16-13 establishes separate requirements for public works contractors. These obligations are not prevailing wage rates and may apply regardless of the project’s funding source.

Depending on your tier and the contract, requirements include:

Tier 1 general or prime contractors must contribute at least 15% of the contract price in work, materials, services, or a combination
Employees may not be paid in cash
E-Verify case verification numbers must be submitted to the awarding agency before an individual starts work on the project
Contractors must certify compliance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Indiana Minimum Wage Law
A drug testing program may be required under Indiana Code 4-13-18
Contractors must maintain at least $1 million in general liability coverage per occurrence and $2 million in aggregate coverage.

Enforcement depends on the type of violation. A public agency must refer suspected E-Verify, wage, workers’ compensation, or unemployment-insurance violations to the state agency responsible for that law. For other violations of Indiana Code 5-16-13, the awarding agency must give the contractor 30 days to correct the issue.

These requirements govern contractor qualifications and documentation rather than establishing a prevailing wage rate.

Prequalification and Training Requirements

Contractors must be prequalified with the Indiana Public Works Certification Board before beginning work on local public works projects estimated at more than $300,000. Prequalification takes time, so confirm your status before a bid is due rather than after an award.

Workforce requirements apply as well. Tier 1 and Tier 2 contractors employing 10 or more employees must provide access to an approved training program, and contractors employing 50 or more journeymen must participate in an approved apprenticeship or training program.

On federally funded jobs, our guide to apprenticeship ratios covers the separate Davis-Bacon apprentice rules.

Payroll Records and Worker Misclassification

Contractors awarded public works contracts after June 30, 2016 must preserve payroll and related records for three years after project completion, and those records must be open to inspection by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

DWD also handles misclassification. A public agency that suspects workers on a public works project have been misclassified may request a written investigation.

A three-year record-retention process can satisfy both the Indiana public works requirement and the federal Davis-Bacon requirement when both apply.

Get Indiana Davis-Bacon Rates Right Before Payroll Runs

Indiana contractors rely on federal wage determinations rather than a state rate table. WageIQ stores the applicable Davis-Bacon rates and surfaces prevailing wage calculations before payroll runs. Prefer to hand off rate sourcing and management? Our Managed Services team builds and maintains rate tables tailored to your business and proactively monitors for rate changes.

Because Indiana has no state prevailing wage law, there is no state certified payroll form. Certified payroll in Indiana means federal certified payroll, and the obligation is triggered entirely by federal funding.

On covered projects, that means:

Weekly reports. A certified payroll report is due for each week that work is performed, submitted to the contracting agency.
Form WH-347 or an equivalent. You can use the DOL form or your own format, as long as it carries the same information and includes a signed statement of compliance.
Job site posting. The applicable wage determination and the Davis-Bacon Worker Rights poster (WH-1321) need to be displayed where workers can see them.
Subcontractor oversight. Prime contractors are responsible for collecting and reviewing subcontractor payroll before submission to the agency. Late or inaccurate subcontractor reports can create compliance issues for the prime contractor.

Submission methods vary by awarding agency. Some accept email or a portal upload, while federal-aid highway and grant-funded work may require an agency-designated electronic system with its own format. Confirm the submission method before the first pay period closes to avoid reformatting reports later.

Penalties and Compliance Risk

Federal Davis-Bacon violations and Indiana public works violations carry different consequences.

On the federal side, Davis-Bacon violations can result in withheld contract payments, back wages plus interest, and liquidated damages for overtime violations under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act. Persistent or willful violations can lead to debarment from federal contracting for up to three years. Falsifying a certified payroll report carries criminal exposure.

For violations that are not referred to another state agency, the awarding agency must give the contractor 30 days to correct the issue. If the contractor does not do so, the agency may find the contractor “not responsible” for that agency’s award. Indiana law states that another public agency may not use that finding when making its own responsibility determination.

Common administrative compliance failures include:

Assigning a worker to the wrong classification
Using an outdated determination, or one issued for the wrong county or construction type
Missing or late weekly submissions
Subcontractor payroll that never gets collected
Fringe benefit contributions that are paid but not documented
Records that are not retained for the full three years

An incorrect classification or outdated determination creates an error on the project’s first payroll. Our wage determination guide explains how to confirm the applicable rate source and current determination.

Before Bidding

Confirm the funding source and applicable labor standards with the awarding agency in writing. Covered federal contracts and federally assisted projects subject to a Related Act trigger Davis-Bacon requirements. State- and local-only funding does not trigger an Indiana prevailing wage requirement.
If federal funds are involved, pull the current wage determination for the project county and construction type from SAM.gov.
Verify your prequalification status with the Indiana Public Works Certification Board for local public works projects estimated over $300,000.
Ask whether the awarding agency has a responsible bidder ordinance or other local contracting requirements.
Budget for fringe benefit obligations and for the administrative time weekly certified payroll takes.
Confirm you can meet the 15% self-performance requirement as a Tier 1 contractor.

During Construction

Post the wage determination and the WH-1321 poster where workers can see them.
Submit E-Verify case verification numbers to the awarding agency before each worker starts on the project.
Classify every worker against the determination and document the basis for each classification.
Submit weekly certified payroll with a signed statement of compliance, and review subcontractor reports before forwarding them.
Pay workers by check or direct deposit. Cash payment is prohibited on Indiana public works projects.
Track prevailing wage and non-prevailing wage hours separately, and watch for determination modifications on long-running projects.

Project Closeout

- Complete any final compliance certifications the awarding agency requires before final payment is released.
- Confirm all subcontractor payroll has been submitted and accepted.
- Retain payroll and related records for three years after project completion to satisfy both Indiana Code 5-16-13 and federal Davis-Bacon requirements when both apply.
- Store those records so they can be produced on request by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development or the U.S. Department of Labor without having to reconstruct anything.

Simplify Indiana Prevailing Wage Compliance

Because Indiana has no state prevailing wage requirement, contractors may go long periods without prevailing wage work and then need a complete Davis-Bacon process by the first pay period of a covered project.

Points North offers two options based on how much of the compliance process you want to manage in-house. With Managed Services, our team partners with you to manage your prevailing wage process. With WageIQ, the rates and forms become easily manageable by your team for compliance.