[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4376 Introduced in House (IH)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4376
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require certain
disclosures be included on employee pay stubs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 13, 2016
Mr. Scott of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require certain
disclosures be included on employee pay stubs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Pay Stub Disclosure Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The lack of a Federal requirement to provide employees
with pay stubs indicating how their pay is calculated or to
allow employee inspections of employers' payroll records
significantly impedes efforts to identify and challenge wage
and hour violations.
(2) In a survey of 4,387 low-wage workers in New York, Los
Angeles, and Chicago, more than a quarter of workers were paid
less than the minimum wage and among those who worked more than
40 hours per week, more than three-quarters were not paid
overtime. Fifty-seven percent of these workers reported that
they did not receive a pay stub in the previous week.
(3) Some employers are increasingly engaging in practices
that make it extremely difficult for workers to calculate their
pay, including paying workers in cash or by personal checks.
(4) While the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the
regulations of the Department of Labor require employers to
keep records of employees' pay, the lack of remedies diminishes
the effectiveness of this requirement.
(5) The Supreme Court held in Anderson v. Mt. Clemens
Pottery Co. (328 U.S. 680 (1946)) that where an employer fails
to keep records that are required under the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938, when an employee presents sufficient
evidence of the ``amount and extent of that work'', for which
the employee was ``improperly compensated'' the burden shifts
to the employer to disprove the employee's testimony and
evidence of the hours the employee worked and how much he or
she was paid.
(6) Far too many courts have failed to shift the burden to
the employer, where the employer has failed to keep records or
has kept inadequate records, instead giving the employer's
testimony equal weight to credible evidence produced by the
employee.
SEC. 3. PAY STUB REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Disclosure Requirements.--Section 11 of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 211) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``(e) Information To Be Disclosed to Certain Employees.--
``(1) Initial Disclosure.--Each employer shall provide an
initial disclosure to each employee who is not subject to the
exemptions set forth in section 13 within 15 days of the date
such employee is hired or any of the information in
subparagraphs (A) through (C) changes with respect to that
employee. Such disclosure shall include--
``(A) the rate or rates of pay and whether the
employee is paid by the hour, shift, day, week, or job,
or by salary, piece rate, commission, or other form of
compensation;
``(B) the name of the employer and any other name
used by the employer to conduct business; and
``(C) the physical address and telephone number of
the employer's main office or principal place of
business, and a mailing address if such mailing address
is different from the address of the main office or
principal place of business.
``(2) Disclosures Required in Each Pay Stub.--Each employer
shall disclose to each employee who is not subject to the
exemptions set forth in section 13 in a pay stub provided each
pay period--
``(A) the pay period covered;
``(B) the name of the employee and the last four
digits of the employee's Social Security number;
``(C) the total hours worked by the employee,
including the number of hours worked per workweek in
the pay period;
``(D)(i) in the case of an employee who is paid an
hourly wage, the total gross and net wages paid, and
the rate of pay for each hour worked;
``(ii) in the case of an employee who is paid a
salary in lieu of an hourly wage, the amount of salary
paid during the pay period;
``(iii) in the case of an employee employed at
piece rate, the number of piece-rate units earned, the
applicable piece rate, and total amount paid in
accordance with such piece rate; and
``(iv) in the case of an employee who receives
commission or is paid on the basis of any other type of
rate, the total amount paid in commission or in
accordance with such rate and any additional
information relating to such pay as determined by the
Secretary;
``(E) the number of overtime hours worked during
each workweek of the pay period and the hourly rate of
pay for each such overtime hour, or, in the case of an
employee employed at piece rate, the piece rate paid
for each such overtime hour;
``(F) any additional compensation paid or benefits
provided, including an explanation of each type of
compensation or benefit; and
``(G) any deductions, with an explanation of each
deduction, and any allowances or reimbursements, with
an explanation of each allowance or reimbursement.
``(3) Requirements Related to Disclosure of Compensation, Benefits,
Allowances, and Reimbursements.--In disclosing the information required
to be disclosed pursuant to subparagraphs (F) and (G) of paragraph
(2)--
``(A) the compensation and benefits required to be
disclosed include--
``(i) any bonus, paid leave (including paid
vacation or personal time, paid sick leave, or any
other paid leave), or other compensation;
``(ii) any employer contributions to health care
coverage or to a retirement account for the employee
and any transit or other benefits provided by the
employer; and
``(iii) any additional form of pay that is required
under State or local law, or for which records are
required to be kept pursuant to State or local law,
such as reporting time pay, split shift pay, paid sick
leave, or paid family or medical leave.
``(B) the allowances and reimbursements required to be
disclosed include any amounts paid to or reimbursed to an
employee for meals, clothing, lodging, or any other item for
which the employer makes an allowance or provides a
reimbursement; and
``(C) the explanation for any additional compensation,
benefits, allowances, or reimbursements shall be itemized and
may not be described as `miscellaneous'.
``(4) Form of Disclosure Required.--The pay stub required by
paragraph (2) shall be provided to an employee each pay period and may
be provided--
``(A) as a separate document, accompanying an employee's
pay;
``(B) as a detachable part of a paycheck for employees
receiving a paycheck; or
``(C) electronically, at the election of the employee, if
the employee receives his or her pay through electronic
deposit.''.
(b) Recordkeeping Requirements.--Section 11 of such Act is further
amended by adding at the end of subsection (c) the following: ``An
employer shall keep records of the information disclosed in an
employee's pay stub, as required by subsection (e), for a period of
three years from the date of issuance of each pay stub.''.
(c) Investigations and Inspections.--Section 11 of such Act is
further amended by adding at the end of subsection (a) the following:
``In the event that an employee requests an inspection of such
employee's records described in subsection (c), the employer shall
provide copies of such records for a period of up to three years prior
to such request. An employer shall comply with an employee's requests
to inspect records within 21 days of such request.''.
(d) Notice and Posting Requirement.--Section 11 of such Act is
further amended by inserting after subsection (e) (as added by
subsection (a)) the following:
``(f)(1) Every employer subject to any provision of this Act or of
any order issued under this Act shall provide a notice to each employee
within 15 days of the date of hire that includes--
``(A) a description of the employee's right to
receive a pay stub and the information which the pay
stub must contain;
``(B) the address and telephone number for the
applicable local office of the Department of Labor; and
``(C) such additional information as the Secretary
shall require by regulation.
``(2) In the case of employees employed by an employer on the date
of enactment of this Act, the employer shall provide the notice
described in paragraph (1) within 15 days of the effective date of the
Pay Stub Disclosure Act.''.
(e) Conforming Amendment.--The section heading of section 11 of
such Act is amended by inserting ``pay stub disclosures,'' after
``records,''.
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) In General.--Section 16 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
is further amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) by inserting after the second sentence the
following: ``An employer who violates subsections (e)
or (f) of section 11 shall be liable to the affected
employee for $50 for the initial pay period in which
such a violation occurs and $100 per employee for each
violation in a subsequent pay period, not to exceed an
aggregate of $4,000 per employee.''; and
(B) by striking ``either of the preceding
sentences'' and inserting ``any of the preceding
sentences'';
(2) in subsection (e)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (5) as
paragraphs (4) through (6), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
``(3) An employer who fails to make, keep, and preserve records as
required by section 11(c), or fails to permit a current or former
employee to inspect or copy records as required by section 11(a), shall
be subject to a civil penalty of $750 per violation.''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(f) The Secretary shall have the authority, in accordance with
inflation, to periodically increase the amounts provided for in this
section as penalties or recoverable in an action described in
subsection (b).''.
(b) Evidentiary Standards.--Section 15 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 215)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(c) In the event that an employer fails to keep sufficient
records as required by section 11(c) and any related regulations, the
employee's production of credible evidence and testimony regarding the
amount and extent of the work for which the employee was improperly
compensated shall be sufficient to create a rebuttable presumption that
the employee's records are accurate, consistent with the Supreme
Court's decision in Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co. (328 U.S. 680
(1946)).''.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
Section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 29 U.S.C. 203) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(z) `Pay stub' means a paper that itemizes in writing all wages
and deductions paid to an employee each pay period.''.
SEC. 6. REGULATIONS AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall prescribe such regulations as
are necessary to carry out this Act, including a list of State and
local laws--
(1) with requirements that are substantially similar to the
requirements of this Act; and
(2) compliance with which the Secretary may determine
satisfies the requirements of this Act.
(b) Guidance and Technical Assistance.--In order to achieve the
objectives of this Act, the Secretary of Labor--
(1) acting through the Administrator of the Wage and Hour
Division of the Department of Labor, shall issue guidance on
compliance with this Act regarding providing the disclosures
required pursuant to this Act; and
(2) shall provide technical assistance to employers, labor
organizations, professional associations, and other interested
persons on means of achieving and maintaining compliance with
the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date that
is 6 months after final regulations are issued by the Secretary of
Labor and not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this
Act.
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