Utah: Pay Stub Requirements
The short answer
Utah has a general deduction-statement rule and a fuller construction-trades rule. If an employer makes a wage deduction, it must give the employee a statement on each regular payday showing the total amount of each deduction; an employer licensed under the Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act must also give a written or electronic payday statement with the employee's name, base rate, pay-period dates, hourly hours, detailed withholdings, and total amount paid. The chapter excludes public employers, listed agricultural work, household domestic service, and employment covered by an agreement with different payment terms.
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This is the general rule in Utah. Ezel applies current Utah law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | Utah Code §§ 34-28-1, 34-28-3(4)-(5); chapter excludes public employers, listed agriculture/stock/poultry work, household domestic service, and employment with agreed different payment terms; licensed construction employers have added duties |
|---|---|
| Must provide a statement and when | If any deduction is made, deduction statement each regular payday; licensed construction employer gives full written/electronic statement on the day it pays (§ 34-28-3(4)-(5)) |
| Pay period, employer, and employee identification | General statement: no dates or party IDs. Licensed construction: employee name and pay-period dates; no employer name/address/phone, employee number, or SSN stated (§ 34-28-3(5)) |
| Gross earnings, hours, rates, and pay basis | General statement: no earnings fields. Licensed construction: base rate and, if hourly, hours worked; no gross-pay, overtime-rate, salary, commission, or piece-unit field stated (§ 34-28-3(5)) |
| Deductions, net pay, allowances, and other required items | General: total amount of each deduction. Licensed construction: amount and reason for lawful withholdings, including income, Social Security, Medicare taxes and court orders, plus total amount paid; no leave balance or employer contribution stated (§ 34-28-3(4)-(5)) |
| Electronic delivery, consent, printing, and storage | Licensed construction statement expressly may be written or electronic, with no consent, opt-out, print, or storage condition stated; general deduction statement's format is not specified (§ 34-28-3(4)-(5)) |
| Employee copy access and employer retention | Hourly/daily time-and-wage records kept at least 1 year; licensed construction pay-statement copies kept at least 3 years; division inspection, but no general employee historical-copy route stated (§ 34-28-10) |
| Enforcement, damages, penalties, and deadlines | Division investigates all chapter violations; licensed-construction statement fine is $50 first, $100 second/third, then $500 each later violation in 1 year; any chapter violation is a class B misdemeanor; no statement-only private damages or fees stated (§§ 34-28-9, 34-28-12) |
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Requirements one by one
Coverage has statutory exclusions
Utah Code § 34-28-1 excludes the state and its political subdivisions,
specified agricultural, dairy, horticultural, stock, and poultry work,
household domestic service, and employment where the employer and employee have
an agreement providing different payment terms. The statement rules below apply
within the remaining Chapter 28 coverage.
General deduction statement
Under § 34-28-3(4), a wage deduction triggers the general statement. On each
regular payday the employer must furnish a statement showing "the total amount
of each deduction." The subsection does not add earnings, date, identity, or
net-pay fields, and it does not specify paper or electronic format.
Licensed construction employers
A licensed construction-trades employer has a separate, fuller duty under
§ 34-28-3(5). On the day it pays the employee, it must give a written or
electronic statement showing the employee's name, base rate, pay-period dates,
hourly hours when applicable, the amount and reason for lawful withholdings, and
the total amount paid for the period.
The withholding examples are state and federal income tax, Social Security tax,
Medicare tax, and court-ordered withholdings. The construction employer must
also comply with subsection (4)'s total-for-each-deduction requirement.
Electronic delivery
Only the construction-specific provision expressly addresses format, allowing a
"written or electronic pay statement." It does not state an employee-consent,
paper-opt-out, printing, storage, or continuing-access condition. The general
deduction-statement subsection does not say whether electronic delivery is
sufficient.
Records and retention
Utah Code § 34-28-10 requires hourly or daily time-and-wage records to remain on
file at least one year. A licensed construction employer must retain each
§ 34-28-3(5) pay statement for at least three years after giving it to the
employee. The division may inspect those records during business hours; the
section does not create a general employee historical-copy procedure.
Enforcement
The Division of Antidiscrimination and Labor must ensure Chapter 28 compliance
and investigate alleged violations under § 34-28-9(1). For a violation of the
licensed-construction statement rule, subsection (3) sets a $50 first fine,
$100 second and third fines, and $500 for the fourth and each later violation
within a one-year period.
Utah Code § 34-28-12(1) separately classifies an employer's violation of any
Chapter 28 provision as a class B misdemeanor. The cited statement provisions
do not create statement-only employee damages, attorney fees, or a cure period.
What trips people up
Utah does not use one field list for every covered employer. A nonconstruction
employer with deductions gives the compact subsection (4) statement. A licensed
construction employer must satisfy both subsection (5)'s detailed list and
subsection (4)'s deduction-total rule.
The three-year retention rule is also construction-specific. For other covered
hourly or daily employees, § 34-28-10 states a one-year time-and-wage record
period, not a three-year pay-statement-copy requirement.
Common questions
Does every Utah employer have to show hours and a pay rate?
No. Those fields are part of the licensed-construction rule, and hours are
required there only for an hourly-paid employee. The general rule requires only
the total amount of each deduction when deductions are made.
Is an electronic statement always expressly authorized?
The statute expressly authorizes written or electronic statements for licensed
construction employers. It does not specify the format for the general
deduction statement.
What does “total amount paid” mean for the construction statement?
That is the statute's phrase. The section separately requires deduction amounts
and reasons but does not label the total as a gross-pay or net-pay field.
Statutes and sources
- Utah Code § 34-28-1. Chapter coverage exclusions. Official
text
(accessed July 14, 2026). - Utah Code § 34-28-3(4)-(5). General deduction statement and detailed
licensed-construction statement. Official
text
(accessed July 14, 2026). - Utah Code § 34-28-10. One-year general time-and-wage records,
three-year construction statement copies, and division inspection. Official
text
(accessed July 14, 2026). - Utah Code § 34-28-9(1), (3). Division enforcement and escalating
construction-statement fines. Official
text
(accessed July 14, 2026). - Utah Code § 34-28-12(1). Class B misdemeanor classification. Official
text
(accessed July 14, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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