Fact Check: Pay Stub (Wage Statement) Requirements by State

"Federal law does not require employers to give employees a pay stub."

"29 CFR §516.2(a) lists twelve recordkeeping items for every non-exempt employee (name + identifier; address; date of birth if under 19; sex + occupation; workweek start; regular hourly rate when overtime is due; daily and weekly hours; daily/weekly straight-time earnings; overtime premium; additions/deductions; total wages; date of payment and pay period)."

"29 CFR §516.5 requires payroll records to be kept three years; §516.6 requires underlying time cards / schedules / wage-rate tables to be kept two years; §516.2(b) imposes no required form."

"California Labor Code §226(a) requires nine specific items on every wage statement; §226.2 adds piece-rate-specific items."

"California Labor Code §246(i) requires the employer to provide the available paid sick leave amount on the pay stub OR a separate written document each pay period."

"§226(e)(3) excludes 'an isolated and unintentional payroll error due to a clerical or inadvertent mistake' from the knowing-and-intentional standard."

"§226(e)(2)(B) deems an employee to suffer injury if the employer fails to provide accurate information as to specific items and the employee cannot promptly and easily determine the required item from the wage statement alone."

"California Labor Code §200 defines 'wages' broadly; §201 governs immediate-discharge payment; §202 governs voluntary-quit payment; §203 waiting-time penalty up to 30 days of wages."

"New York Labor Law §195(3) requires a pay statement with pay-period dates, employee name, employer name + address + phone, rate(s) and basis, gross, deductions, allowances, net, and (for non-exempt) regular and overtime rates and hours at each."

"Massachusetts M.G.L. c. 149 §148 requires pay-statement items including employer name, employee name, date, hours worked, hourly rate, and itemized deductions/increases; §150 provides mandatory treble damages on unpaid wages plus mandatory attorney's fees."

"Washington WAC 296-126-040 requires employers to furnish each employee each pay period an itemized statement showing pay basis (hours or days), rate(s), gross, and all deductions; electronic permitted if employees can access and print on payday."

"Colorado C.R.S. §8-4-103(4) requires itemized statement each regular payday showing gross, withholdings/deductions, net, pay-period dates, employee name, last-4 SSN or ID, and employer name + address."

"Hawaii HRS §388-7 requires written notice at each payment of wages with straight-time, deductions, piece rate (if applicable), and for hourly employees the rate, hours, and overtime pay. Electronic pay statements require the employee's written consent (opt-in). Penalty under HRS §388-10: fines plus damages, costs, attorney's fees."

"North Carolina N.C. Gen. Stat. §95-25.13 is deduction-focused; requires itemized deductions, date of payment, and pay-period covered."

"Nevada NRS §608.110 requires itemized statement with rules layered by industry."

"DOL Fact Sheet #21 confirms the FLSA recordkeeping framework and is silent on pay-stub delivery."

"California DLSE 2006 Opinion Letter on Electronic Itemized Wage Statements established conditions for electronic delivery: opt-out availability, all §226(a) items present, statements available no later than payday, unique-ID + PIN access control, ability to convert to hard copy at no expense."

"§226(e) penalty schedule: $50 for the initial pay period, $100 per pay period for each subsequent violation, aggregate cap $4,000 per employee, plus mandatory costs and reasonable attorney's fees."

"§226(c) gives current and former employees the right to inspect or receive copies of payroll records within 21 days of request; failure under §226(f) triggers a $750 penalty plus injunctive relief."

"New York Labor Law §198(1-d) (WTPA, as amended Dec. 29, 2014, effective Feb. 27, 2015) provides $250 per workday of violation, capped at $5,000 per employee, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees."

"Illinois 820 ILCS 115/10 requires pay statement at each regular pay period with hours, rate, overtime pay + overtime hours, gross, all deductions, and year-to-date totals; 820 ILCS 115/14 provides civil penalty up to $500 per violation + 5% per month interest on unpaid wages."

"Pennsylvania 43 P.S. §260.4 (WPCL) requires employer at each regular payday to notify the employee of wages earned, hours, pay rate, deductions, and net. Penalty under §260.10: liquidated damages of 25% of unpaid wages or $500, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees."

"Connecticut Conn. Gen. Stat. §31-13a requires a record at each payment of hours worked, gross earnings showing straight time and overtime separately, itemized deductions, and net. §31-69(a) penalty up to $300 per violation; §31-69b criminal exposure up to $5,000 fine and/or 1 year imprisonment for willful violations."

"District of Columbia D.C. Code §32-1008 requires itemized statement at each wage payment with date, gross, hours (non-exempt), all deductions, net, and hourly rate. §32-1011 provides 3× unpaid wages + civil penalty up to $500/employee/violation + criminal penalty up to $10,000 + 6 months for willful violations."

"New Jersey N.J.S.A. §34:11-4.6 requires itemized statement; §34:11-4.10 provides fines up to $1,000 + 10–90 days imprisonment for willful violations."

"Arizona A.R.S. §23-353 requires itemized statement with enumerated items (gross, hours, deductions, net, pay period); penalty up to $250 per violation."

"California's Private Attorneys General Act (Labor Code §2698 et seq.) historically imposed default civil penalties of $100 per employee per pay period for an initial Labor Code violation and $200 per employee per pay period for subsequent violations."

"AB 2288 added a malicious / recidivist multiplier raising the per-pay-period PAGA penalty to $200 when the conduct was malicious, fraudulent, or oppressive, or when the LWDA or a court determined the same practice unlawful within the preceding five years."

"California Labor Code §227.3 + Suastez v. Plastic Dress-Up Co., 31 Cal.3d 774 (1982), require accrued vacation to be paid at the employee's final rate of pay."

"Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., 328 U.S. 680 (1946), established the FLSA burden-shifting rule: when the employer fails to keep adequate records, the employee may carry the burden by producing 'sufficient evidence to show the amount and extent of that work as a matter of just and reasonable inference.'"

"Naranjo v. Spectrum Sec. Servs., Inc., 13 Cal.5th 93 (2022), held that §226.7 premium pay is 'wages' under Labor Code §200; missed-premium-pay must be reported on the pay stub under §226 and paid promptly at separation under §§201–203."

"Naranjo v. Spectrum Sec. Servs., Inc., 15 Cal.5th 1056 (2024), held that §226(e) statutory penalties are subject to an objectively reasonable good-faith defense; the defense applies only to §226 penalties, not to §226.7 premium or §203 waiting-time penalties."

"Ward v. United Airlines, Inc., 9 Cal.5th 732 (2020), held that California Labor Code §226 applies when California is the employee's principal place of work; for interstate transportation workers without a majority-state, the test is the 'base of work operations.'"

"Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 9 Cal.5th 762 (2020), is the companion ruling to Ward extending the same framework to other §226 contexts."

"Bluford v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 216 Cal.App.4th 864 (2013), held that piece-rate compensation pays only for productive time; rest breaks and other non-productive time must be separately compensated and must appear as a separate line on the wage statement."

"Gonzalez v. Downtown LA Motors, LP, 215 Cal.App.4th 36 (2013), is the companion piece-rate rest-break decision."

"Price v. Starbucks Corp., 192 Cal.App.4th 1136 (2011), held that deprivation of §226(a) information alone is not a cognizable injury; the plaintiff must allege a concrete consequence."

"Magadia v. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc., 999 F.3d 668 (9th Cir. 2021), reversed an approximately $102M district-court §226 + PAGA judgment. Theory 1 (MyShare retroactive overtime adjustment / §226(a)(9) rate 'in effect') reversed; Theory 2 (Statement of Final Pay omitting §226(a)(6) pay-period dates) reversed; PAGA reversed on Article III standing."

"Lubin v. The Wackenhut Corp., 5 Cal.App.5th 926 (2016), reversed class decertification after Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011); class of approximately 13,500 California non-exempt security officers; settled January 2019 in a publicly reported range of $100M–$130M against G4S Secure Solutions."

"Ridgeway v. Walmart Inc., 946 F.3d 1066 (9th Cir. 2020), affirmed a $54.6M California-driver verdict; per-component breakdown (layovers $44.7M, rest breaks $4.0M, pre-trip inspections $3.0M, post-trip inspections $3.0M) reflected the underlying jury allocation."

"Nine states have no statute requiring employers to furnish itemized pay stubs to employees: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Dakota, and Tennessee."

"Colorado CDLE Wage Protection Rules expansion (effective February 1, 2026) requires leave-balance recordkeeping for vacation/PTO and HFWA sick leave; employers may use the pay stub as the disclosure vehicle for the running balance."

"Maryland Md. Lab. & Empl. §3-504 was substantially expanded effective October 1, 2024 to require written or electronic pay statement each pay period showing employer's registered name, address, phone; date of payment; pay-period dates; hours (except exempt); rates; gross and net; itemized deductions; additional pay; and for piece-rate employees the applicable piece rate and units completed."

"Minnesota Minn. Stat. §181.032 requires a wage statement and the WTPA-style new-hire notice (added 2014, expanded 2023)."

"Virginia Va. Code §40.1-29 was amended in 2020 (HB 123) to require itemization (previously required only a general statement)."

"AB 2288 and SB 92 (signed July 1, 2024; effective for actions filed on or after June 19, 2024) capped wage-statement PAGA penalties at $25 per pay period where the information was promptly determinable; capped isolated/non-recurring violations at $50 per pay period; created a 15% reasonable-steps-to-comply cap and a 30% prospective-compliance cap; raised the employee share to 35%; added injunctive relief; codified a personal-experience standing requirement."

"Illinois IDOL received direct enforcement authority under the Wage Payment and Collection Act effective August 1, 2025; IWPCA recordkeeping amendments extended pay-record retention to three years for current and former employees, with 21-day response on records requests."

"Oregon ORS §652.610 requires itemized statement at each pay period: payment date, pay-period dates, employee + employer name, employer address, rate(s), regular and overtime rate and hours at each rate, gross, net, deductions, allowances, and piece-rate units for agricultural workers. SB 906 (signed May 28, 2025; effective January 1, 2026) amends §652.610 to require at-hire disclosure of all payroll codes, benefit deductions and contributions, and applicable pay rates. BOLI civil penalty up to $500/violation; no private right of action."

"Washington SHB 1308 (signed May 13, 2025; effective July 27, 2025) extended personnel-file access to former employees within 3 years of separation; production within 21 calendar days; graduated statutory damages ($250 / $500 / $1,000) and a $500 catch-all penalty."

"Texas Tex. Lab. Code §62.003 requires a written earnings statement with hours, rate, total pay, deductions and purpose, and piece-rate units; may be paper or electronic; must be signed by employer or agent. No agency enforces §62.003; the Texas Workforce Commission enforces only Chapter 61 (Payday Law)."