North Carolina: Pay Stub Requirements
The short answer
North Carolina requires a limited statement rather than a full pay stub. An employer covered by the Wage and Hour Act must furnish each employee an itemized statement of deductions for every pay period in which deductions are made. The statute does not require gross or net wages, hours, rates, pay-period dates, or party identification on that statement, and it does not specify paper versus electronic delivery. The Commissioner of Labor may seek an injunction against an Article violation, but the current unpaid-wage damages provision does not list the statement section.
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This is the general rule in North Carolina. Ezel applies current North Carolina law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| 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) |
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Requirements one by one
The payday statement is deduction-only
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.13(4) requires every covered employer to furnish each
employee an itemized statement of deductions made under § 95-25.8. NCDOL's
current employment-agreements page reproduces the same rule.
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.
The statute does not add ordinary earnings fields
Section 95-25.13(4) states no gross-wage, net-pay, hour, rate, overtime, piece-
unit, salary, commission, or other pay-basis field. It also states no pay-period
date, payday, employer or employee name or address, employee number, Social
Security number, leave balance, allowance, tip, or employer contribution.
The required content is an itemization of deductions. The separate substantive
rules governing when a deduction is lawful under § 95-25.8 do not turn every
payroll field into part of the employee-facing statement.
Format is not specified
The statute says the employer must “furnish” a statement but does not say paper
or electronic. It supplies no consent, paper opt-out, printing, downloading, or
permanent-storage condition. Format permission should not be inferred from the
text alone.
No old-statement access procedure appears here
Section 95-25.13(4) states no retention period for the deduction statements and
no current- or former-employee procedure for requesting old copies. It also
states no response deadline or reproduction fee.
Enforcement differs from an unpaid-wage claim
Under § 95-25.24, the Commissioner of Labor may apply to the General Court of
Justice to enjoin or restrain violations of the Wage and Hour Act.
The employee recovery provision in § 95-25.22(a) expressly covers minimum wage,
overtime, and §§ 95-25.6 through 95-25.12. It does not list § 95-25.13. The
current cited provisions therefore 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.
An itemized deduction statement is not the same as a California-style wage
statement. North Carolina's list does not add gross pay, net pay, hours, rates,
or party identification.
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
Must the statement show gross and net pay?
Not under § 95-25.13(4). Its employee-facing requirement is limited to an
itemized statement of deductions.
Is a deduction statement required when nothing was deducted?
This provision says the statement is furnished for each pay period in which
deductions are made. It states no statement duty for a no-deduction pay period.
Does the current law award damages for a missing statement?
The current unpaid-wage damages section does not list § 95-25.13. Pending SB 525
would add actual damages, fees, costs, and Department remedies for violations of
that section, but it is not current law.
Statutes and sources
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.13(4). Conditional deduction-statement duty.
Official text
(accessed July 13, 2026). - N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.22. Unpaid-wage recovery provisions that omit
§ 95-25.13. Official text
(accessed July 13, 2026). - N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.24. Commissioner injunction authority. Official
text
(accessed July 13, 2026). - NCDOL Employment Agreements/Contractual Obligations. Agency reproduction
of the deduction-statement rule. Official guidance
(accessed July 13, 2026). - NC SB 525. Pending remedy proposal for § 95-25.13 violations. Official
bill page (checked August 1, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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