Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

As we previously detailed, the Virginia General Assembly enacted an employment records disclosure law requiring employers to furnish Virginia employees certain personnel documents upon request.  That law took effect on July 1, 2019.

This past term, Virginia General Assembly also enacted changes to Virginia’s Wage Payment Act to require employers to furnish paystubs to employees on each regular pay date.  The pay stub requirement will take effect January 1, 2020.

Prior to the amendment, the Virginia Wage Payment Act only required employers to provide paystubs upon the employee’s request, and the Act only required that the paystubs contain the employee’s gross wages and any deductions.

Starting on January 1, 2020, however, the Act will require employers to provide each employee a paystub on “each regular pay date” without waiting for an employee’s request.  Moreover, the paystubs must contain additional information, including: (1) the name and address of the employer; (2) the number of hours worked in the pay period; (3) the applicable rate of pay; (4) the gross wages earned during the pay period; (4) and the amount and purpose of any payroll deductions.   See Va. Code Ann. § 40.1-29.

Employers in Virginia should take steps to evaluate their payroll practices and be prepared to issue compliant paystubs to all Virginia employees by January 1, 2020.