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Payroll
11 articles on payroll.
Running the business
Clocking In the Whole Crew: When One Punch for the Truck Makes Sense
When it is reasonable for a foreman to clock in the whole crew at once, what can go wrong with a crew punch, what the US Department of Labor says about hours worked and records, and the habits that keep a crew punch accurate.
Nov 10, 2026 · 5 min read
Running the business
Closing a Pay Period: Locking Timesheets Before Payroll
Why a traffic control company should lock timesheets once a pay period is closed, what to check before locking, how a pay period differs from a workweek, and how corrections after the lock should be handled.
Nov 10, 2026 · 5 min read
Running the business
Paying Commission in a Traffic Control Company: On Invoiced or Collected Revenue
How to design a commission plan for salespeople and crew leads in a traffic control company: invoiced versus collected revenue, why commission should be figured before sales tax, clawbacks on bad debt, and the federal overtime and withholding rules that apply.
Nov 10, 2026 · 6 min read
Running the business
Workers' Compensation Classification for Traffic Control Companies
Classification codes decide what your workers' comp costs before any rate is applied, and traffic control sits awkwardly across several of them. Here is how the system works, what drives a misclassification, and what to ask your carrier.
Sep 11, 2026 · 12 min read
Running the business
Are Your Flaggers Employees or Contractors? The Classification Question, and Why 2026 Made It Harder
The federal test for worker classification is mid-rewrite. What the DOL proposed in February 2026, what the IRS looks at, why a signed 1099 agreement settles nothing, and what the answer changes for a traffic control company.
Aug 29, 2026 · 11 min read
Choosing software
GPS Time Clock for Traffic Control Crews: What to Know Before You Roll One Out
Why time tracking is unusually hard in traffic control, what geofencing does and does not prove, how clock data feeds job costing and payroll, and how to introduce it without losing your crews.
Aug 23, 2026 · 7 min read
Running the business
Overtime and FLSA Basics for Traffic Control Crews
Why night work, standby, and travel make overtime unusually easy to get wrong in this trade — the 40-hour rule, what the regular rate includes, and the federal contract layer on top.
Aug 23, 2026 · 12 min read
Running the business
Per Diem and Travel Pay for Traffic Control Crews
How per diem and travel pay actually work for out-of-area traffic control work — the IRS substantiation methods and current rates, why travel time and per diem are separate questions, and how to price and record both without creating a payroll problem.
Jul 26, 2026 · 6 min read
Running the business
Crew Utilization: The Metric Most Traffic Control Companies Don't Track
Wage rates are known to the penny and utilization not at all — which is backwards, because utilization moves the economics harder and management can actually change it.
Jul 25, 2026 · 5 min read
Running the business
What an Hour of Flagger Time Actually Costs: Building a Loaded Labor Rate
Base wage is the smallest part. Here is how to build a defensible loaded hourly cost for field labor — burden, non-productive time, utilization, prevailing wage, and the admin tail nobody prices.
Jul 25, 2026 · 11 min read
Running the business
Certified Payroll for Traffic Control Contractors: How It Works
What certified payroll requires on prevailing wage jobs, why classification is the hard part for traffic control crews, and how to capture the underlying time data so submissions are not archaeology.
Jul 21, 2026 · 5 min read