Delaware: Pay Stub Requirements
The short answer
Yes, if the employer has more than three employees. At payment, the employer must furnish a check notation, separate slip, or retainable electronic statement showing wages due, the pay period, deductions separately specified, and—if the employee is paid hourly—total hours for the period. An employee receiving an electronic statement may request a written separate slip, and a chapter violation carries a civil penalty of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation.
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This is the general rule in Delaware. Ezel applies current Delaware law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | 19 Del. C. §§ 1101, 1108. Statement duty applies to employers with over 3 employees; chapter excludes federal, Delaware state/local-government employees, and independent contractors |
|---|---|
| Must provide a statement and when | At payment, furnish the statement on the check, by separate slip, or electronically in retainable form (§ 1108(4)) |
| Pay period, employer, and employee identification | Show the pay period for which wages are due. No payment date, employer/employee name, address, phone, ID, or SSN field stated (§ 1108(4)) |
| Gross earnings, hours, rates, and pay basis | Show wages due; for an hourly-paid employee, total hours for the pay period. No regular/overtime rate, salary, commission, piece-unit, or other earnings-basis field stated (§ 1108(4)) |
| Deductions, net pay, allowances, and other required items | Show total deductions, separately specified. No net pay, additions, allowances, tips, leave balance, or employer-contribution field stated (§ 1108(4)) |
| Electronic delivery, consent, printing, and storage | Electronic statement expressly allowed without stated consent if employee can retain it; employee may request a written separate slip. No timing, cost, opt-out form, portal-duration, or employer-provided printing rule stated (§ 1108(4)) |
| Employee copy access and employer retention | Preserve chapter records, including wage/hour records, at least 3 years (§ 1108(6)); no express statement-copy retention or current/former-employee historical inspection/copy procedure stated |
| Enforcement, damages, penalties, and deadlines | General civil penalty of $1,000-$5,000 per chapter violation (§ 1112(a)); civil penalty claim may be filed in court (§ 1112(d)). No verified statement-specific private damages formula; § 1113(a) addresses unpaid wages/liquidated damages |
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Requirements one by one
The statement duty begins with the fourth employee
Section 1108 applies to an employer “of over 3 employees.” The chapter's
employee definition excludes employees of the federal government, Delaware or
its political subdivisions, and independent contractors.
The threshold belongs to the employer, not to a particular payroll run. An
employer with four or more employees must furnish the statement to each covered
employee at the time of payment.
The payday statement has four core fields
The employer may put the statement on the check or furnish a separate slip. It
must show the wages due, the pay period for which those wages are due, and the
total deductions, separately specified.
For an employee paid at an hourly rate, the statement must also show the total
number of hours for that pay period. Section 1108(4) does not list pay rates,
net pay, employer or employee identifiers, pay date, piece-rate units, tips,
allowances, leave balances, or employer contributions.
An electronic statement must be retainable
Electronic delivery is expressly allowed if the statement is in a form the
employee can retain. The statute does not require advance consent to electronic
delivery.
An employee who receives the statement electronically may request a written
version on a separate slip. Section 1108(4) states no request format, response
deadline, cost rule, continuing portal-access period, or separate
employer-provided printing requirement.
Three-year records are broader than statement-copy retention
Under § 1108(6), the employer must make, keep, and preserve the records
specified in the chapter, including wage and hour records, for at least three
years. They may be kept at the workplace or at one or more central
recordkeeping offices.
The provision does not expressly say that a duplicate of each employee-facing
statement must be kept. Nor does it create a current- or former-employee process
to inspect or obtain historical statements.
A general chapter penalty reaches the statement duty
Section 1112(a) applies to an employer that violates or fails to comply with
any chapter requirement. The civil penalty is at least $1,000 and at most
$5,000 for each violation, and subsection (d) says a civil-penalty claim may be
filed in a court of competent jurisdiction.
The employee remedy in § 1113(a) is worded as a civil action to recover unpaid
wages and liquidated damages. That unpaid-wage remedy should not be presented as
an automatic private damages formula for a statement-only defect.
What trips people up
“Over 3 employees” means four or more. The statement mandate does not begin at
three employees.
Only hourly-paid employees have the total-hours field. The statute does not
require the same hours entry for every salaried or other nonhourly employee.
The right to request a written slip does not add terms the statute never states.
Section 1108 does not specify how quickly the employer must respond or say that
the written copy must be free.
Common questions
Must the statement show net pay?
No net-pay field appears in § 1108(4). The required amounts are wages due and
deductions, separately specified.
Can the employer use an online payroll portal?
Yes, if the electronic statement is in a form the employee can retain. The
employee may request a written statement on a separate slip.
Must a salaried employee's statement show hours?
The total-hours requirement is written for an employee paid at an hourly rate.
The section does not state a general hours field for nonhourly employees.
Statutes and sources
- 19 Del. C. § 1101(a)(4)-(5). Chapter coverage and exclusions. Official
text (accessed July 14, 2026). - 19 Del. C. § 1108(4), (6). Employer-size threshold, payment-time
statement, required fields, electronic delivery, written-slip request, and
three-year records. Official text
(accessed July 14, 2026). - 19 Del. C. §§ 1112(a), (d) and 1113(a). General chapter civil penalty,
court filing, and the unpaid-wage private-action boundary. Official
text (accessed July 14, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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