Beginning April 9, 2025, Ohio employers will be legally required to give employees access to their paystubs.
Citing transparency, accountability, and fairness in the workplace, the Ohio General Assembly unanimously passed the the Paystub Protection Act (PPA), which requires Ohio employers to issue paystubs, either electronically or via hard copy, to all employees on regular paydays that include the:
- Names of the employee and employer;
- Employee’s address;
- Employee’s total gross wages during the pay period;
- Employee’s total net wages during the pay period;
- Amount and purpose of each addition or deduction to wages; and
- Dates of the pay period.
For hourly employees, the following three additional items are required:
- Total hours worked;
- Hourly rate; and
- Hours worked in excess of 40 hours in one workweek.
The PPA defines “workweek” in the same manner as the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour periods, that may begin on any day of the week selected by the employer.
Although the PPA brings Ohio in line with the vast majority of U.S. states that require employers to issue paystubs to employees, unlike some state laws, the PPA does not permit employees to sue or receive monetary damages from employers who fail to provide compliant paystubs. Instead, non-compliant employers could end up being required to post a notice issued by the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Under the PPA, an employee who does not receive a paystub that complies with the PPA may request one from the employer. If an employer fails to provide a compliant paystub within 10 days of the employee’s request, the employee may file a report with the Department of Commerce. If the Department of Commerce believes the employer violated the PPA, it will require the employer to immediately post a notice “in a conspicuous place on the employer’s premises” for a minimum of 10 days. What exactly such a notice will contain remains to be seen, as the PPA does not specify the contents of the notice.
While most Ohio employers already provide paystubs to employees as a matter of best practice, the PPA now makes it a legal requirement. Going forward, employers should ensure they both provide paystubs to employees on regular paydays and see that those paystubs include each of the bulleted items above.