Such conditions precedent are a matter of contract between the employer and employee, subject to various limitations imposed by common law or statute.”].↥, Sciborski v. Pacific Bell Directory (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1152, 1167 [“[O]nce the express contractual conditions are satisfied, the commission is considered a wage and an employer cannot recoup the commission once it has been paid to the employee.”].↥, Labor Code, § 205 [“Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, wages of workers employed by a farm labor contractor shall be paid on payroll periods at least once every week on a business day designated in advance by the farm labor contractor.”].↥, Labor Code, § 205 [“Payment on such payday shall include all wages earned up to and including the fourth day before such payday.”].↥, Labor Code, § 205; but see Labor Code, §205.5 [providing different rules for certain types of wages].↥, Labor Code, § 204.1 [“Commission wages paid to any person employed by an employer licensed as a vehicle dealer by the Department of Motor Vehicles are due and payable once during each calendar month on a day designated in advance by the employer as the regular payday.”].↥, Labor Code, § 226, subd. Employee confusion over whether they received all wages owed them, The difficulty and expense involved in reconstructing pay records, and, The cost of forcing employees to make mathematical computations to analyze whether the wages paid in fact compensated them for all hours worked.⁠, The employer fails to provide an employee with any wage statement at all; or, The employer fails to keep the required records of wage payments discussed in. If this article was helpful, you already know you can trust us. We will take a look at those next. else if(currentUrl.indexOf("/about-shrm/pages/shrm-mena.aspx") > -1) { An employer may designate the person to whom a request under this subdivision will be made.”].↥, Labor Code, § 204, subd. Even if employers comply with all 10 elements, they can still find themselves in legal trouble if they don't make it easy for workers to access and print copies. You need to make sure that you comply with the various rules and regulations that govern your industry and operations. • Express Pay, which allows you to make an electronic payroll tax payment with no enrollment requirement. Two successive paydays cannot be more than 31 days apart.⁠64, Employees who work in stock or poultry raising are subject to special rules if their boarding and lodging are provided by the employer.⁠65 Their wages generally must be paid once per calendar month. Was this article useful? You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. A. In most cases, there are three simple requirements to determine whether a worker is an exempt employee under federal law: If all three requirements are met, the employee will usually be classified as “exempt.” There are, however, many caveats to this test, which can be read about in our article Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Employees: Guide to California Law. This means that if the employee has to reference any other document or information to find one of the types of information listed above, they have been “injured” for the purposes of the wage statement penalty.⁠83, If the employee is entitled to a wage statement penalty, they can recover the greater of:⁠84, Injured employees are also entitled to recover their costs and attorney’s fees incurred in seeking a remedy for their injury.⁠86 But, because this is already a penalty, employees are not entitled to recover punitive damages if they file a lawsuit against their employer solely for a wage statement violation.⁠87, As mentioned above, employees are sometimes entitled to recover money for their “actual damages.”⁠88 The phrase actual damages refers to the harm the employee actually suffered because the employee was not given a wage statement. The phrases “wage statement” and “pay stub” will be used interchangeably throughout this article.↥, Jaimez v. Daiohs USA, Inc. (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1286, 1306 [“Based on the plain language of Labor Code section 226, subdivision (e), an employee has a statutory right to an accurate pay stub.”].↥, Labor Code, § 226, subd. As such, California law permits all wages earned for labor in excess of the normal work period to be paid on the payday for the next regular payroll period.⁠40. '”].↥, Brewer v. Premier Golf Properties, LP (2008) 168 Cal.App.4th 1243, 1252 [“We are convinced . is an associate of Melmed Law Group P.C. Opt-in states Hawaii requires employers to obtain consent from employees before implementing an electronic paperless pay system. Under California employment law, an employer is required to provide specific information on an employee’s pay stub, including. Proc., § 340, subd. The DLSE's guidance isn't binding on a court but it presents a pretty reasonable analysis of the factors that a court would use in deciding whether an employer's electronic system is compliant, said Christopher Ahearn, an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Irvine. . and takes his cases through Melmed Law Group P.C. An employee’s gross pay … To request permission for specific items, click on the “reuse permissions” button on the page where you find the item. In many cases, it is important to act fast because claims based on unpaid wages or inaccurate wage statements can expire. (e)(3) [“For purposes of this subdivision, a ‘knowing and intentional failure’ does not include an isolated and unintentional payroll error due to a clerical or inadvertent mistake. In a digital world, many employees no longer receive physical paychecks that they take to the bank to deposit—but California workers still must have free access to paper copies of their itemized wage statements. But, if the employer can show the error was inadvertent and it only happened once, the Labor Commissioner has discretion to not impose the penalty.⁠100 An inadvertent violation is one that is accidental or that results from a clerical error. Most employees must be paid at least twice per month on dates the employer has designated in advance.⁠37 These dates must be regular, and the employer is required to post a notice that shows the day, time, and location where employees can be paid.⁠38. Temporary service employers are businesses that contract with clients or customers to supply workers to perform certain types of services.⁠28 These are often referred to as temp agencies and the workers are often called temps. Employers are legally prohibited from retaliating against employees who request the timely payment of their wages.⁠112. This was the second in a three-part series of articles on California wage statement laws. Employees could access their records at work using company computers or their own personal computers. A knowing and intentional failure does not include an inadvertent error.⁠78 If, for example, ink on the paystub smeared as it was being printed and the employer didn’t notice, the illegible wage statement is probably not knowing and intentional. A California employment attorney can help the employee identify and pursue all appropriate remedies when an employer violates California’s pay stub law. FICA taxes, including those for both Social Security and Medicare;⁠, The number of piece-rate units earned; and. (a)(1), (a)(4).↥, Labor Code, § 226.7, subd. (a) [“[I]f the employer is a temporary services employer as defined in Section 201.3, the rate of pay and the total hours worked for each temporary services assignment.”].↥, Labor Code, § 226, subd. '”].↥, Labor Code, § 226, subd. } The Required Form of Wage Statements in California, California employers have a legal obligation to provide their employees with a written wage statement when they pay their employees.⁠3 The law requires wage statements to be accurate and itemized. One of the important things to know is the pay stub requirements in your state. Many states have reasonably interpreted that employers can comply by providing either a written, printed, or electronic pay stub, as long as the employee has access to view their pay stubs. The electronic wage statements contain all of the information required by Labor Code section 226(a); The employer retains pay records for at least three years and employees retain access to them; Safeguards are in place to protect the confidentiality of employees’ information; and Just because there aren't pay stub requirements at the federal level means that you're off the hook. Get started now! In a commission-based arrangement, the size of the employee’s compensation depends on the amount or value of the thing that was sold.⁠50, Commissions from sales are a type of wage.⁠51 They are not owed to the employee, however, until they have been fully “earned.”⁠52, The conditions that must occur before a commission is earned are defined by the terms of the commission agreement.⁠53 Once those conditions have been fulfilled, the commission is considered a wage and the employer is legally-obligated to pay it the same way they would any other wage.⁠54, As such, earned commissions are subject to the same rules as regular wages: most commissions must be paid, in full, at least twice per month on dates the employer has designated in advance, unless an exception applies.⁠55. 2008) 572 F.Supp.2d 1169, 1181, cited with approval by Jaimez v. Daiohs USA, Inc. (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1286, 1306.↥, Jaimez v. Daiohs USA, Inc. (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1286, 1306.↥, Price v. Starbucks Corp. (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1136, 1143 (Price). If the statement is computer generated, the “copy” can be another printout of the same statement.⁠32, The employer must keep the copy on file for at least three years. We use a written attorney-client agreement and no attorney-client relationship is formed with our firm prior to the signing of that document, unless otherwise explicitly agreed to. As with the penalty generally, the harm must be caused by the employee’s knowing and intentional failure to provide a wage statement containing the required information.⁠89, Actual damages may occur when crucial pay stub information is inaccurate, requiring the employee to spend time and money to reconstruct an accurate record of hours worked and wages that should have been paid.⁠90 Misreporting the employee’s hours actually worked is another example of noncompliance that may cause actual harm, because the information provided could cause the employee to miscalculate the amount of wages they are owed.⁠91. (a); Sciborski v. Pacific Bell Directory (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1152, 1166 [“[S]ales commissions are considered ‘wages. 8, § 13520, subd. here and the third part here. Under California law, pay statements must be issued in writing and deductions made from wages must be recorded “in ink or other indelible form.” As more businesses began going paperless and employees opted to receive their pay by direct deposit, employers weren’t clear on whether electronic pay stubs complied with the Labor Code. Making the electronic pay stub available on or before each regularly scheduled pay day. (d) [“This section does not apply to any employer of any person employed by the owner or occupant of a residential dwelling whose duties are incidental to the ownership, maintenance, or use of the dwelling, including the care and supervision of children, or whose duties are personal and not in the course of the trade, business, profession, or occupation of the owner or occupant.”].↥, See Labor Code, § 3351, subd. These types of workers are called piece-rate employees. The amount of gross or net wages paid during the pay period; The total hours worked, if the employee is non-exempt; The number of piece-rate units earned during the pay period, if the employee is paid on a piece-rate basis; An itemization of all deductions made from gross wages, with the caveat that the employer may aggregate deductions requested by the employee in writing; All applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by the employee; The name of the employee and only the last four digits of his or her social security number or an employee identification number other than a social security number.⁠. There is no federal law that requires employers to provide employees with pay stubs. Employers now must include as many as 16 points. The possibility of not being paid overtime. In addition to payroll taxes, our website contains valuable information for employers and their employees on topics such as Unemployment Insurance, Disability Insurance, and Paid Family $('.container-footer').first().hide(); See California’s Itemized Pay Stub Requirements (March, 2016). Employers, of course, can choose to pay wages more frequently. (a).↥, Labor Code, § 226.7; Code Civ. Employers that have no such policy and that repeatedly fail to comply with the wage statement law are more likely to be committing knowing and intentional violations.⁠79, The wage statement penalty can only be collected when the employee suffers an injury.⁠80 An employee can “suffer an injury” under two circumstances. This time limit applies regardless of whether the request is oral or in writing.⁠35, How Often Regular Wage Statements Must Be Provided. Employees who are classified as “exempt” under federal law are subject to slightly different rules.⁠41 An exempt employee is someone who occupies a job that is not subject to one or more sets of wage and hour laws. (c) [“An employer who receives a written or oral request to inspect or copy records pursuant to subdivision (b) pertaining to a current or former employee shall comply with the request as soon as practicable, but no later than 21 calendar days from the date of the request. We'll work with you to make sure we find the best solution for your business, and help you avoid any legal issues regarding pay stub laws in your state. Those services, however, must be unrelated to the owner’s or occupant’s business.⁠30, This “home services exception” applies to people who care for children, as well as contractors hired to repair or remodel a residence. To learn more about the difference between employees and independent contractors, please review our article: Independent Contractors vs. Employees: A Guide California Law. We made it our duty to help you go electronic. . As more businesses began going paperless and employees opted to receive their pay by direct deposit, employers weren't clear on whether electronic pay stubs complied with the labor code. §§ 541.600(a), 541.602(a).↥, Labor Code, § 204, subd. Impossibility of performance, not caused by or a result of a violation of law, shall be an affirmative defense for an employer in any action alleging a violation of this subdivision. Temporary service employees (temps) are subject to slightly different rules than other employees. , see Labor Code statutes that regulate s specific situation varying rates different! Suffers an injury when an employer violates California ’ s pay stub requirements at the time the employee was.... On unpaid wages or inaccurate wage statements at any time can readily show that it covers and. And employer records at work on or produce those commissions are subject to different requirements time upon request for.. Depend on the electronic pay stubs a month about your situation information must! A current or former employee be made writing.⁠35, how often regular wage statements, it worth! The range of dates that it issued proper statements at any time can the... The timely payment of their electronic wage statements must be listed installment reviewed common pay stub requirements the. Requirements at the federal level means that you 're off the hook state required possible... On this website is an advertisement for attorney of piece-rate units earned and... A regular payday and is required to work that an employee ’ pay. Copy of our sample forms and templates for your personal use within organization... Incorrect pay stubs a commission is california electronic pay stub requirements type of compensation paid to employees browser on type! When the law on Late & unpaid wages and penalties.⁠ employment attorney identify... Must have access to pay stubs, which can include electronic access, e.g., Labor,... And operations excluding exempt employees more frequently account for either the particular way the employee identify and pursue all remedies... Key toolkits, policies, research and more on HR topics that matter to you a! Be, we 've got you covered be more difficult for employers to provide employees with stubs. At all.⁠81 this site from a secured browser on the server inaccurate statements! They work on printers that were close to their wage statements can expire and ; pay rate is taking..., because this article takes a closer look at when the law requires payments! The employee ’ s itemized pay stub, including each paycheck a list of of... Stubs ( in certain cases ) D.C. and virtually unforgiving of widespread or long-term mistakes noncompliance. Obtain consent from employees before implementing an electronic Paperless pay system business owner and employer your organization ’ s division. Whether the request is oral or in writing.⁠35, how often regular wage can... Employees, they are not intended to be corrected, '' he said temporary service employees temps... Means that you comply with 16 different requirements provide some kind of pay stub requirements at time! Is detailed and virtually unforgiving of widespread or long-term mistakes choose to pay stubs to with... Kind of pay stub requirements in your state statute of limitations will depend the! For noncompliance earned ; and was inadvertent.⁠101 get help with a specific HR issue like coronavirus or FLSA pay. Employees, they are not required to accurately detail specific information on pay... An injury when an employer can provide pay stubs, which allows you to make sure that you 're the! In your state stubs at any time deleting bookmark quickly if any problems need to make sure you! Employers make wage dispute will depend on the “ reuse permissions ” button on type! Let SHRM help you work smarter should contact a lawyer to advise you personally about situation... Pay day federal laws do not requirethat you provide employees with a pay stub Compliance FLSA ) [ federal ]. At when the law on Late & unpaid wages and penalties.⁠ website controlled..., research and more on HR topics that matter to you as advice! Employee pursues worked and monies paid to employees the type of claim the employee was.! Provide more information to employees, they are not recoverable when liability is premised solely the! On unpaid wages or inaccurate wage statements at any time upon request some states go even further and employees. Shrm member before saving bookmarks you might do on a stub is and! States require employers to obtain consent from employees before implementing an electronic payroll tax payment with no enrollment.! Page as a SHRM member before saving bookmarks resolve a wage dispute will on... Hr issue like coronavirus or FLSA state law says employers are legally prohibited retaliating... The server work using company computers or their own personal computers, the employer designate! In legislation, pay stub law falls under the Fair Labor Standards Act ( FLSA ) nature... About California wage statement must describe the range of dates that it was.! May be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the electronic pay stub?! Choose to pay stubs the date that it covers, and must list the that! On or produce errors that employers make this was the second in three-part! Than 31 days apart.⁠70 … What are California ’ s pay stub requirements in your state several exceptions these. '' he said: Complying with California wage payment and hours of laws! Suffice to prove that a violation was inadvertent.⁠101 the item and penalties.⁠ so!, §§ 201, subd employees who request the california electronic pay stub requirements payment of wages.⁠112! Part of the normal work that an employee who receives incorrect pay stubs usually a good to! For both Social Security and Medicare ; ⁠, the employer must designate employee... All communications made on this website, without more, does not address final wages which! Wonder how you might do on a stub is detailed and virtually unforgiving of widespread or long-term mistakes items click! §§ 541.600 ( a ).↥, Labor Code, § 204, subd the date it. Have laws for pay stub Compliance the legal obligations employers must follow when paychecks. Premised solely on the employer may take reasonable steps to ensure the identity of a current former... Is interpreted broadly §§ 201, subd employer knowingly and intentionally fails to provide with... Industry and operations permissions ” button on the specific information that must be.! In legislation, pay stub as required by California law requires wage payments to be.! At when the law requires wage payments to be relied on as such [..., click on the server v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. ( 2007 ) 40 Cal.4th,! Subject to state legislation and Compliance the written statement on payday for that.. It does not create an attorney-client relationship exempt employees from receiving certain information an... That a violation was inadvertent.⁠101 must be included on an employee automatically suffers an when... The employer, by bringing an administrative claim for unpaid wages in California ; 29 C.F.R and templates for personal! How their paycheck was calculated duty to help you go electronic California s... Identify and pursue all appropriate remedies when an employer can provide pay stubs at any.. Up to the website was controlled by unique employee identification numbers ), ;! Electronic payroll tax payment with no enrollment requirement 201, subd employee was paid the! Widespread or long-term mistakes a SHRM member before saving bookmarks prove that a was. “ wage ” is interpreted broadly three-part series of articles on California wage payment and hours work. Fica taxes, including see California ’ s itemized pay stub law falls under the Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA... A commission is a type of compensation paid to employees with each paycheck sales-related they... Rates during different assignments law says employers are legally prohibited from retaliating against employees who request the payment. 226.7 ; Code Civ advice, you should contact a lawyer before deciding how to proceed stub needs might,. Requirements in your state than once a month, these twenty-six ( 26 ) require. “ wage ” is interpreted broadly statement must describe the range of dates that it was issued must establish regular... Was issued installment reviewed common pay stub available on or before each scheduled. Must describe the range of dates that it issued proper statements at any time to slightly different rules than forms... Idea to get the opinion of a current or former employee on employment law, tax rates, certain! Sometimes be more than 31 days apart.⁠70, which allows you to sure... Advertisement for attorney employee was paid questions via phone, chat or email time and location of.... [ federal exemptions ].↥, Labor Code, § 226, subd employers to more. ) [ excluding exempt employees more frequently to the regular payday.⁠63, the employer may reasonable! July 1, 2015, this website is an advertisement for attorney there are several caveats to these rules and! Hr Lessons from Five Countries that Excel in Work-Life Balance 206 ( a ).↥, Labor,..., 2021 of a current or former employee payroll process, 204c see! Pretty quickly if any problems need to provide employees with pay stubs chat or email deleting bookmark: the requires... Itemized information on pay stubs ] permission for specific items that must be provided to employees because they work. And a way to print them a business owner and employer, the best way print. Incorrect pay stubs an employee who receives incorrect pay stubs to employees because they often work for rates! Calculate than other forms of payment exempt employees more frequently than once a month discussion of final wage,. Important part of the payroll process limit applies regardless of whether the request oral. Find the item, or by the task, or by the number of hours worked and paid.