Every pay stub must show 9 specific items — and getting it wrong costs $50–$4,000 per worker.
California Labor Code § 226 requires nine specific itemizations on every wage statement: gross wages, total hours, piece-rate units, deductions, net wages, pay period dates, employee identification, employer name and address, and all applicable hourly rates with hours worked at each. Missing or inaccurate items expose employers to $50 first-violation, $100 per subsequent — capped at $4,000 per employee — plus PAGA stacking.
Wage Statement Compliance
Generates pay stubs containing all 9 § 226 required items. Itemizes regular hours, OT, DT, premium pay, sick leave, vacation, and tips on separate lines per category. Validates accuracy before payroll close.
What the rule does at every payroll close.
The hero card configuration: Block on field gaps, Critical on rate transparency. Here's what each does at runtime.
When a payroll close is initiated, Teambridge validates that every wage statement contains all 9 required items. Missing fields (e.g., piece-rate units for piece-rate workers, employer address) block the close.
For workers earning premium pay (OT, DT, missed-break premiums), the wage statement shows the regular rate calculation — base + non-discretionary bonuses + commissions. Per Naranjo, premium pay must appear; per Ferra, the regular rate must be the broader figure.
Deploy wage statement compliance in your Teambridge.
Tell us about your workforce. We'll spin up California § 226 wage statement generation — alongside the other 22 California policies — in a sandbox tenant.
Nine items. Every pay stub. No exceptions.
California's wage statement law is highly prescriptive. The nine items are explicitly enumerated in the statute, and courts have rejected many attempts to substitute equivalent disclosures.
Item-by-item compliance
Each of the nine items must be present, accurate, and on the wage statement itself — not on a separate document. Item 9 (all applicable hourly rates) is the most frequently litigated: workers with regular OT, premium pay, and shift differentials need to see each rate with the corresponding hours worked at that rate.
Penalty structure
First violation: $50 per employee per pay period. Subsequent: $100 per employee per pay period. Capped at $4,000 per employee. Plus PAGA penalties ($100 default, $200 willful) per employee per pay period stacked on top. For a 100-employee workforce with a 2-year violation, exposure can run into millions.
Teambridge generates compliant statements automatically — every payroll, every worker.
Wage statement compliance is structurally simple but operationally where most California employers fail. Teambridge handles the items by default.
Every statement, every close.
Before a payroll closes, every wage statement is validated against the 9 required items. Any gap blocks the close until resolved. The check runs per-worker, not just per-payroll.
Naranjo-compliant by structure.
Missed-break premium, split-shift premium, reporting-time pay, OT, and DT each appear on their own line — not bundled. Employee can see exactly what they earned and at what rate.
Ferra-compliant calculation visible.
When premium pay is owed, the regular rate calculation is shown — base wages + non-discretionary bonuses + commissions ÷ hours. Worker visibility supports both compliance and trust.
§ 246 sick leave balance.
Paid sick leave balance appears on every wage statement, separate from but adjacent to the wage items. Required by § 246 and integrated by structure.
Still evaluating? Get a free California compliance audit.
Send us your existing California scheduling and pay configuration. Our compliance team returns a written audit within 5 business days — every California-specific exposure ranked by risk and back-pay liability.