Wage Law

Pursuant to California Labor Code § 226, California employers are required to provide certain information on employees' pay stubs, which information may include the employees' social security numbers. However, effective January 1, 2008, employers are only permitted to print the last four digits of an employee's social security number, or an employee identification number other than a social security number, on the paystubs.

Labor Code § 226(a) provides that:

Every employer shall, semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, furnish each of his or her employees, either as a detachable part of the check, draft, or voucher paying the employee's wages, or separately when wages are paid by personal check or cash, an accurate itemized statement in writing showing

(1) gross wages earned,

(2) total hours worked by the employee, except for any employee whose compensation is solely based on a salary and who is exempt from payment of overtime under subdivision (a) of Section 515 or any applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission,

(3) the number of piece-rate units earned and any applicable piece rate if the employee is paid on a piece-rate basis,

(4) all deductions, provided that all deductions made on written orders of the employee may be aggregated and shown as one item,

(5) net wages earned,

(6) the inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is paid,

(7) the name of the employee (and the last four digits of his or her social security number or an employee identification number other than a social security number may be shown on the itemized statement),

(8) the name and address of the legal entity that is the employer, and

(9) all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by the employee.

Under Labor Code § 226(e), an employee suffering injury as a result of a knowing and intentional failure by an employer to comply is entitled to recover the greater of all actual damages or fifty dollars ($50) for the initial pay period in which a violation occurs and one hundred dollars ($100) per employee for each violation in a subsequent pay period, not exceeding an aggregate penalty of four thousand dollars ($4,000), and is entitled to an award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees. Because these penalties can accrue at a clip of four thousand dollars per employee, plus attorney's fees, such errors can create substantial exposure to employers.

The statute requires strict compliance. In Cicairos v. Summit Logistics, Inc. (2005) 133 Cal.App.4th 949, the Court of Appeal held that Section 226 must be followed exactly, concluding that paystubs identifying the employer in that case as "Summit" rather than "Summit Logistics, Inc." violated the statute. We warned our clients and readers about the change in the social security number requirements three years ago, but another reminder can't hurt.