Paystubs for All

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 27, 2014

CONTACT: Cathy Junia
773-710-9837 / [email protected]

FAITH COMMUNITY TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR: 
GRANT WORKERS THE RIGHT TO RECEIVE THEIR OWN PAYSTUB 

NATIONAL - Over the last few weeks, members of the faith community flooded U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez's inbox with more than 5,000 emails, demanding regulatory changes that would give workers access to their own wage information. 

The call for a Paystubs for All regulation, initiated by Interfaith Worker Justice, is part of ongoing efforts to address the country's growing wage theft problem. 

"Without a paystub, workers won't know how their pay is calculated, leaving them vulnerable to illegal deductions and unpaid wages," said Interfaith Worker Justice Executive Director Kim Bobo. "Not having proper documentation also makes it tougher for workers and worker advocates to prove wage theft when it happens." 

In the absence of a federal paystubs requirement, it is estimated that as many as 20 million U.S. workers do not receive documentation that outlines their own wage information. 

"A simple paystub regulation could have a significant deterrent effect on wage theft," Bobo said. "Employers will be reluctant to illegally underpay workers or steal workers' earned wages since such activity will now be documented." 

The U.S. Department of Labor already requires employers to keep records for three years on how workers were paid. The proposed Paystubs for All regulation calls for a simple amendment of existing record-keeping rules to require employers to provide the same pay calculations to the worker who earned it. 

"Requiring pay stubs is an easy step for the USDOL to help hold employers accountable for paying their workers proper wages," Bobo said. 

This Labor Day, congregations across the country will host Labor in the Pulpit/on the Bimah/in the Minbar services to lift up worker struggles, including wage theft and the need for a Paystubs for All regulation. 

The call for Paystubs for All is supported by Bread for the World, NETWORK Lobby, National Council of Churches, United Church of Christ and T'ruah: The Rabbinical Call for Human Rights. 

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Interfaith Worker Justice is a national organization that engages, organizes and mobilizes people of faith and good conscience in support of economic justice and worker rights at the local, state and national levels. It has a network of more than 40 interfaith groups and 26 worker centers across the country.