Society board chair testifies for earnings and deduction statements

OSCPA staff report

OSCPA Executive Board Chair John Venturella, CPA, J.D., told the Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee on May 1 that a bill requiring employers to provide earnings and deductions statements to all employees is an overdue measure.

“When OSCPA first became aware of this issue, we checked with a number of our members to get their thoughts,” Venturella said. “Literally every single one said a variation along the line of, ‘You mean this isn’t already required?’ Why? Because almost all employers already do provide some form of paystub. Ohio is one of only nine states that doesn’t have this requirement.”

House Bill 137, sponsored by reps. Brigid Kelly, D-Cincinnati, and Nino Vitale R-Urbana, specifies information to be included such as gross and net wages, the amount and purpose of each addition or deduction, the period covered by the payment and – if the employee is hourly – wage, hours worked and hours worked over 40. Employers can comply by providing either a written, printed or electronic pay stub.

Vitale said he has researched payroll software and there is "off-the-shelf software" that can provide all the required information. He said discussing this with both large and small businesses, the most common response was, "You mean Ohio doesn't require us to give employees paychecks?"

Venturella, a shareholder with Clark Schaefer Hackett & Co. in Dayton, said employees “should have the right to regularly access this important wage and withholding information to make sure everything is accurate, and business owners providing paystubs can protect themselves from legal problems down the road should disputes arise months later.”

He also noted employers already are required to track such information.

The bill is now before the House Commerce and Labor Committee.  For more information, contact OSCPA’s government relations team.