What Is a Wage Statement Violation and How Much Is It Worth?

California Labor Code § 226 requires pay stubs to contain specific information. Employers who issue defective pay stubs face penalties of $50 for the first violation and $100 for each subsequent violation — up to $4,000 per employee.

What Must Appear on Every Pay Stub

Required items: gross wages earned, total hours worked (for non-exempt employees), all deductions itemized, net wages, the inclusive dates of the pay period, the employee’s name and last four digits of SSN, the employer’s legal name and address, and the hourly rates in effect with the corresponding hours worked at each rate.

A pay stub that omits any required item is a violation — even if the wages themselves are correct. Workers who have never received a compliant pay stub from their employer can calculate the statutory penalty across their full employment period. For a worker employed for 100 pay periods, the maximum penalty is $4,000. This claim runs independently of any wage underpayment claim — they stack.

The California Wage Theft Recovery System gives workers the exact tools and templates to document violations, calculate what they’re owed, and file the right claims — without paying an attorney to get started. Request your free evaluation here.