Itemized Employee Wage Statement Provisions
Under California wage and hour laws, your employer has to place specific information on your pay stub/ wage statement. In essence, the pay stub has to inform you - the employee - concerning how you are being paid. You have to be able to look at the pay stub and determine how you are being paid. That is California law. These laws apply to workers that are not legally salaried employees. In other words, hourly employees or piece rate employees.
The real world however, is far different. And guess what? If your employer does not comply with these requirements, you can recover up to $4,000 and your attorney fees and costs. Is $4,000 a huge amount of money? No. But what we find is when we do a wage and hour audit of a California employer, these requirements are added to the total amount owed to our clients. And, you will see that the total owed, quickly adds up. I call it the joy of math. So will you.
In legal terms, these cases (or causes of action) are called: Failure to comply with itemized employee wage statement provisions. Or California Labor Code Section 226.
The Ten Things That Need To Be On Each Pay Stub
Your employer must provide you - on each pay day an itemized statement of earnings and deductions which includes the following information:
1. Your gross wages earned.
2. The total hours worked by you.
3. The number of piece-rate units earned by you and any applicable piece rate.
4. All deductions.
5. Your net wages earned.
6. The inclusive dates of the period for which you are being paid.
7. Your name and the last 4 digits or your social security number.
8. The name and address of your employer.
9. All applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period.
10. The number of hours worked at each hourly rate by you.
What you are going to see, based upon our experience is very few employers that pay under a piece rate follow California law. For example: Truck drivers that are paid by mileage, number of stops or by weight; or mechanics that are paid per job done. For hourly workers, many employer don’t list the total deductions.
Disclaimer: Please understand these discussions and/or examples are not legal advice. All legal situations are different. This testimonial, endorsement and/or discussion does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter, your particular case/ situation and/or this particular case/ situation.
