Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act

Key Points

• The bill requires employers to give every worker a detailed paystub showing hours worked, pay rate, deductions, and other key information. Employers must also provide a written disclosure at hiring that explains pay structure, overtime status, and employer contact details, available in the worker's primary language.
• Workers would gain the right to receive their final paycheck within 14 days of leaving a job. If an employer misses that deadline, they would owe the worker an extra day of pay for each day of delay, up to 30 additional days of wages.
• The bill dramatically increases penalties for wage theft. Liquidated damages would rise to double or triple the stolen wages, civil fines could reach $250,150 per employee per violation for repeat offenders, and criminal fines would jump from $10,000 to $100,000 per affected employee.
• The bill bans forced arbitration clauses that stop workers from suing over stolen wages. It also extends the statute of limitations from 2 years to 4 years (or 5 years for willful violations), giving workers more time to file claims.
• A new grant program would fund community organizations, nonprofits, and other groups to help workers learn about their rights and recover stolen wages, with a focus on industries and areas with the worst violations. Grants would last up to 3 years, with funding authorized through 2030.
• Workers gain the right to inspect their employer's payroll records going back 5 years. If an employer fails to keep proper records, the worker's own credible evidence about hours and wages creates a legal presumption in their favor that the employer must disprove.