[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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