Fringe benefit credit calculator for prevailing wage jobs
Turn plan contributions into an hourly fringe credit the way the Davis-Bacon rules require, see how much must be paid in cash, and check straight-time and overtime pay before you sign the certified payroll.
Fill in the form and press Calculate, or load the example.
How the fringe credit is calculated
Annualization. Under 29 CFR 5.25(c), the hourly credit for a plan contribution is the total contribution divided by the total hours the worker worked in the period the contribution covers, counting all work, both private jobs and prevailing wage jobs. Dividing only by the hours on the public project overstates the credit.
Example. A contractor pays $6,240 a year for a worker's health insurance and the worker works 2,080 hours that year. The credit is $6,240 ÷ 2,080 = $3.00 per hour. If the wage determination requires a $15.00 fringe, the remaining $12.00 per hour must be paid in cash.
The pension exception. Contributions to a defined contribution pension plan are not annualized when the plan provides immediate participation and essentially immediate vesting (vesting within the first 500 hours worked). For those plans, enter the contribution made per covered hour.
Overtime. Under 29 CFR 5.32, the overtime premium is computed on the regular or basic rate. Fringe credits and genuine cash in lieu of fringes are excluded from that rate, but the exclusion can never reduce it below the wage determination's basic hourly rate. So the minimum overtime cash rate is 1.5 × the basic rate plus the hourly cash owed in lieu of fringes.