Along with each paycheck, California law requires employers provide a written itemized statement containing nine pieces of information about that payment:

(1) Gross wages earned;
(2) Total hours worked (except salaried exempt employees);
(3) Piece rate units and rate, if applicable;
(4) All deductions, including taxes, disability insurance, and health and welfare payments (deductions ordered by the employee may be aggregated and shown as one item);
(5) Net wages earned;
(6) The inclusive dates of the pay period;
(7) The name of the employee along with his or her social security number (last four digits only) or an employee identification number;
(8) The name and address of the legal employing entity; 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.

These payroll laws are intended to prevent workers from being cheated on their pay.  Intentional failure to provide this payroll stub data entitles the employee to recover all actual damages or up to $50 for the initial pay period in which a violation occurs and $100 per employee for each violation in a subsequent pay period, up to a total of $4,000, plus costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) provides an example of an itemized wage statement (pay stub) as required by California law for an employee paid an hourly wage (http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/PayStub.pdf) to reflect the January 1, 2008 requirement that the itemized statement may only show the last four digits of the social security number.