New Jersey: Pay Stub Requirements
The short answer
New Jersey uses a two-tier rule: every covered employer must furnish a deduction statement for each pay period in which deductions are made, while an employer with 10 or more employees must add gross wages, net wages, rate of pay, and hours worked when relevant to the wage calculation. The statement may be electronic, but the employee may request paper. Employers keep the underlying wage-and-hour records for six years, and the Labor Commissioner may assess administrative penalties for violations.
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This is the general rule in New Jersey. Ezel applies current New Jersey law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.6(c). Every employer furnishes the deduction statement; employers with 10+ employees add four earnings fields. The 10+ tier expressly includes public employers |
|---|---|
| Must provide a statement and when | Furnish a deduction statement for each pay period in which deductions are made; a 10+ employer includes the additional earnings fields in that statement (§ 34:11-4.6(c)) |
| Pay period, employer, and employee identification | No pay-period beginning/ending dates, payday, employer or employee name/address, employee number, or SSN field stated on the statement (§ 34:11-4.6(c)) |
| Gross earnings, hours, rates, and pay basis | For employers with 10+ employees: gross wages, rate of pay, and hours worked if relevant to the wage calculation. No separate overtime-rate, piece-unit, commission, shift, or assignment field stated (§ 34:11-4.6(c)) |
| Deductions, net pay, allowances, and other required items | Deductions made; for employers with 10+ employees, net wages. No allowance, tip, leave-balance, or employer-contribution field stated (§ 34:11-4.6(c)) |
| Electronic delivery, consent, printing, and storage | Electronic statement allowed without stated advance consent; employee request requires paper. No printing, downloading, storage, or portal-duration condition stated (§ 34:11-4.6(c)) |
| Employee copy access and employer retention | Employer keeps underlying wage-and-hour records 6 years; no current/former employee old-statement inspection or copy procedure, response deadline, or copy fee stated in the cited rule |
| Enforcement, damages, penalties, and deadlines | Commissioner administrative penalty up to $250 first violation/$500 each subsequent violation (§ 34:11-4.10(b)); a knowing Act violation can be a disorderly-persons offense (§ 34:11-4.10(a)). No statement-only private damages stated |
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Requirements one by one
The operative text ties the statement to deductions
N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.6(c) requires every employer to furnish “a statement of
deductions made” for each pay period in which those deductions are made. For an
employer with 10 or more employees, the statute says the additional earnings
fields go “in that statement.”
That wording matters. The Legislature's explanatory statement describes a
broader earnings-statement goal, but the enacted operative sentence retains the
deduction-period condition. This page therefore does not turn the explanatory
summary into an unconditional no-deduction-pay-period duty.
Employers with 10 or more employees add four fields
The additional fields are gross wages, net wages, rate of pay, and hours worked
if hours are relevant to the wage calculation. The statute expressly includes
public employers in this 10-or-more tier.
The employee-facing list states no pay-period dates, payday, employer or
employee name or address, employee number, Social Security number, separate
overtime rate, piece-rate units, allowance, tip, leave balance, or employer
contribution.
An employee can choose paper
Section 34:11-4.6(c) expressly permits electronic delivery “unless the employee
requests that the statement be provided in a paper format.” It states no
advance-consent, printing, downloading, saving, or minimum portal-access period.
Records last six years, and agency penalties apply
The Department's official employer-record notice says the employer must keep
the described wage-and-hour records for six years. That is a retention duty; the
cited rule states no separate current- or former-employee procedure for
requesting historical statements.
Under § 34:11-4.10(b), the Commissioner may assess up to $250 for a first Act
violation and up to $500 for each subsequent violation. Subsection (a) also
reaches an employer that knowingly violates another provision of the Wage
Payment Law. Section 34:11-4.10(c)'s private liquidated-damages remedy is framed
around wages due or lost, so this page does not import it into a statement-only
violation with no unpaid wages.
What trips people up
Ten employees is the dividing line for the four added earnings fields, not for
the deduction-statement rule itself. A smaller covered employer still furnishes
the deduction statement when deductions are made.
The hours field is conditional even for a 10-or-more employer. It is required
only when hours are relevant to the wage calculation; the statute does not
replace that condition with a named salary or overtime-exemption list.
The six-year payroll-record rule does not itself say that an employee can demand
six years of old pay stubs. Agency inspection and employee copy access are
different questions.
Common questions
What happens in a pay period with no deductions?
The operative sentence expressly requires the statement “for each pay period
those deductions are made” and places the 10-or-more fields “in that statement.”
Because of that wording, this page does not claim an unconditional statutory
statement duty for a no-deduction pay period.
Must a smaller employer show gross and net wages?
Section 34:11-4.6(c)'s express gross-wage, net-wage, rate, and relevant-hours
list applies to employers with 10 or more employees. The general rule for every
employer names the deductions made.
Does an electronic pay stub eliminate the paper option?
No. Electronic delivery is allowed, but an employee may request paper.
Statutes and sources
- N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.6(c), enacted amendment in P.L.2019, c.399. Two-tier
statement duty, required fields, and electronic/paper choice. Official
enacted text (accessed July
13, 2026). - N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.10(a)-(b), current amendment in P.L.2019, c.212. Knowing
violations and administrative penalties. Official enacted
text (accessed July 13,
2026). - N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.6(e); N.J.A.C. 12:56-4.1. Six-year underlying
wage-and-hour record retention. Official Department
notice
(accessed July 13, 2026). - S 2664 (2026-2027 Session). Proposed added wage-statement fields for
covered fair-workweek pay. Official bill page
(checked July 25, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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