Pay Stub Requirements in North Carolina
At a glance
| Governing law and coverage | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.13(4). Applies to every employer under the Wage and Hour Act; statement is limited to deductions made under § 95-25.8 |
|---|---|
| Must provide a statement and when | Itemized deduction statement for each pay period in which deductions are made; no statement duty under this provision for a no-deduction pay period (§ 95-25.13(4)) |
| Pay period, employer, and employee identification | No pay-period dates, payment date, employer/employee name or address, employee number, or SSN field stated on the deduction statement (§ 95-25.13(4)) |
| Gross earnings, hours, rates, and pay basis | No gross wages, hours, rates, overtime, piece units, salary, commission, or pay-basis field stated (§ 95-25.13(4)) |
| Deductions, net pay, allowances, and other required items | Itemized deductions made under § 95-25.8. No net pay, additions, allowances, tips, leave balance, or employer contributions stated (§ 95-25.13(4)) |
| Electronic delivery, consent, printing, and storage | Statute says furnish an itemized statement but does not specify paper/electronic medium, consent, opt-out, printing, downloading, or storage (§ 95-25.13(4)) |
| Employee copy access and employer retention | Cited statement rule states no current/former employee old-statement copy right, request deadline, copy fee, or statement-retention period (§ 95-25.13(4)) |
| Enforcement, damages, penalties, and deadlines | Commissioner may ask court to enjoin Article violations (§ 95-25.24). Unpaid-wage damages/fees provision covers §§ 95-25.3-.4 and .6-.12, not § 95-25.13; no statement-specific amount, cure, or deadline stated (§ 95-25.22) |
Requirements one by one
The payday statement is deduction-only
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.13(4) says:
Furnish each employee with an itemized statement of deductions made from that employee's wages under G.S. 95-25.8 for each pay period such deductions are made.
This is not a universal full-earnings pay stub. The statute ties delivery to each pay period in which deductions are made. It does not impose this statement duty for a pay period with no deductions. It also does not add ordinary earnings, party-identification, format, or old-statement access requirements.
Enforcement differs from an unpaid-wage claim
Under § 95-25.24, the Commissioner of Labor may ask the General Court of Justice to stop a violation:
The General Court of Justice has jurisdiction and authority upon application of the Commissioner to enjoin or restrain violations of this Article, including the restraint of any withholding of payment of unpaid wages, minimum wages, or overtime compensation found by the court to be due to employees under this Article (except sums which employees are barred from recovering, at the time of the commencement of the action to restrain the violations, by virtue of the applicable statute of limitations).
The employee recovery provision in § 95-25.22(a) expressly covers §§ 95-25.3-.4 and §§ 95-25.6 through 95-25.12. Because that list does not include § 95-25.13, the current cited provisions do not state a pay-statement damages amount, attorney-fee right, cure period, civil penalty, or claim deadline.
What trips people up
The phrase “for each pay period” is conditional. The rest of § 95-25.13(4) says “such deductions are made,” so a deduction-free period does not trigger this specific statement duty.
The two-year period in § 95-25.22(f) belongs to actions under that unpaid-wage recovery section. Because § 95-25.22(a) omits § 95-25.13, it should not be presented as a verified pay-statement claim deadline.
Common questions
Does the permitted pay schedule create a full-stub duty?
No. Section 95-25.6 allows daily, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly pay periods, but it does not add fields to the deduction statement required by § 95-25.13(4).
Does a deduction authorization replace the later statement?
No. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.8 governs when an employer may make deductions and, for some deductions, requires advance authorization or notice. Section 95-25.13(4) separately requires the itemized statement for the pay period in which the deduction is made.
Would every pending proposal expand the statement's fields?
No. Pending SB 326 and HB 339 would expand the statement's contents and add remedies. SB 525 and HB 353 would add remedies for § 95-25.13 violations without rewriting the current deduction-only statement rule.
Statutes and sources
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.13(4). Conditional deduction-statement duty. Official text (accessed September 9, 2026).
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.22. Unpaid-wage recovery provisions that omit § 95-25.13. Official text (accessed September 9, 2026).
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.24. Commissioner injunction authority. Official text (accessed September 9, 2026).
- NCDOL Employment Agreements/Contractual Obligations. Agency reproduction of the deduction-statement rule. Official guidance (accessed July 13, 2026).
- NC SB 525 and HB 353. Pending remedy proposals for § 95-25.13 violations. SB 525 official bill page and HB 353 official bill page (checked September 9, 2026).
- NC SB 326 and HB 339. Pending proposals to expand statement contents and remedies. SB 326 official bill page and HB 339 official bill page (checked September 9, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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