Employment Law

Wage Statement Violations: The Nine Items Labor Code 226 Requires

By Ingrid Rainey · May 20, 2025 · 6 min read

Wage statement claims are attractive to plaintiffs' counsel because they do not require proving anyone was underpaid. If the pay stub omits required information, penalties can accrue per employee per pay period regardless of whether the underlying wages were correct. For an employer with fifty workers, a payroll template error is a six-figure exposure.

Key takeaways

Wage statement penalties accrue per employee per pay period, with no need to prove underpayment.
The most common errors are template-level: wrong entity name, missing rates, or unlisted sick leave.
An audit before a demand letter limits the exposure window and supports self-correction.

What the statement must show

Gross wages earned and net wages earned.
Total hours worked, for non-exempt employees.
All applicable hourly rates and the number of hours worked at each rate.
All deductions, itemized.
The inclusive dates of the pay period.
The employee's name and the last four digits of the Social Security number or an employee ID.
The legal name and address of the employer — the exact registered entity name, not a DBA alone.
Piece-rate units and rates, where the employee is paid by piece.
Available paid sick leave, which may appear on the statement or a separate document issued the same day.

Where employers get caught

The most common failures are structural rather than deliberate: a payroll provider configured with a trade name instead of the registered entity, overtime shown as a lump dollar figure without the rate and hours, meal period premiums paid but not itemized, and bonus payments that were never used to recalculate the regular rate of pay.

Because these errors repeat every cycle, an unnoticed template problem compounds quietly until a demand letter arrives.

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Fixing it before it becomes a claim

A wage statement audit is inexpensive relative to the exposure: pull a representative stub for each pay type, compare it line by line against the statute, confirm the entity name matches Secretary of State records, and verify sick leave accrual is displayed. Correcting the template going forward limits the accrual window, and self-correction rights available under recent PAGA reforms reward employers who act before a notice is filed.

A 30-minute self-audit

Pull one current stub for an hourly employee, one for a salaried exempt employee, and one for anyone paid commissions or bonuses.
Compare the employer name on the stub to the exact name registered with the California Secretary of State.
Confirm each hourly rate appears separately with the hours worked at that rate, including overtime and double time.
Check that meal and rest period premiums, when paid, appear as their own line item.
Verify that bonuses were included in the regular rate used to calculate overtime for the same period.
Confirm available paid sick leave appears on the stub or on a document issued the same day.

Frequently asked questions

Do these rules apply to salaried exempt employees?

Most do. Exempt employees do not need total hours listed, but the remaining items still apply.

Are electronic pay stubs allowed?

Yes, if employees can access and print them freely and the statement contains all required information.

What are the penalties?

Statutory damages accrue per employee per pay period up to a cap, plus attorney's fees, and PAGA penalties may be layered on top for the covered period.

How long must we keep wage statement copies?

At least three years, and employees have a right to inspect or copy their records within 21 days of a request.

Does correcting the template eliminate past exposure?

No, but it stops the accrual and demonstrates good faith, which matters both in negotiation and under the self-correction pathways available to employers.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes depend on the facts of each matter.

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