[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2630 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2630

   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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 3, 2016

Mr. Franken (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 one-fourth of such workers were 
        paid less than the minimum wage and among those who worked more 
        than 40 hours per week, more than three-fourths 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 (29 U.S.C. 
        201 et seq.) 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 any 
        exemption set forth in section 13 within 15 days of the date 
        such employee is hired or any of the information described 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 any 
        exemption set forth in section 13 in a pay stub provided each 
        pay period--
                    ``(A) the pay period covered;
                    ``(B) the name of the employee;
                    ``(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 the 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 (29 U.S.C. 
211) 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 3 years from the date of issuance of each pay stub.''.
    (c) Investigations and Inspections.--Section 11 of such Act (29 
U.S.C. 211) is further amended by adding at the end of subsection (a) 
the following: ``In the event that an employee who is not subject to 
any exemption set forth in section 13 requests an inspection of such 
employee's records described in subsection (c), the employer shall 
provide copies of such records to the employee for a period of not more 
than 3 years prior to such request. An employer shall comply with such 
employee's request to inspect records within 21 days of such 
request.''.
    (d) Notice and Posting Requirement.--Section 11 of such Act (29 
U.S.C. 211) 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, to each employee who is 
not subject to any exemption set forth in section 13, a notice 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) An employer shall provide an employee described in paragraph 
(1) with the notice required under such paragraph--
            ``(A) within 15 days of the date of hire, except as 
        provided in subparagraph (B); and
            ``(B) in the case of employee employed by an employer on 
        the date of enactment of the Pay Stub Disclosure Act, within 15 
        days of the effective date of such 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 
(29 U.S.C. 216) is further amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by inserting after the second sentence the 
                following: ``An employer who violates subsection (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 to periodically 
increase, in accordance with inflation, 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 the amendments made by this Act; 
        and
            (2) compliance with which the Secretary may determine 
        satisfies the requirements of this Act and the amendments made 
        by 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 the amendments made by 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 and the amendments made by this Act.

SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the earlier 
of--
            (1) the date that is 6 months after the date on which final 
        regulations are issued by the Secretary of Labor under section 
        6(a); and
            (2) the date that is 18 months after the date of enactment 
        of this Act.
                                 <all>