Rhode Island

All employers, regardless of size: when an employee is hired, they must be provided with a written notice in English containing all the following information:

• The rate or rates and basis of pay, including whether the employee is to be paid by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission or other method, and the specific application of any additional rates;
• Any allowances claimed for permitted meals and lodging;
• The employer’s policy on sick leave, vacation, personal leave, holidays and hours;
• The employee’s employment status and whether they are minimum wage and/or overtime exempt;
• A list of deductions that may be made from the employee’s pay;
• The number of days in the pay period, the regularly scheduled payday, and the payday on which the employee will receive the first payment of wages earned;
• The employer’s legal name, and operating name if different from the legal name;
• The employer’s main office physical address or principal place of business and mailing address (if different); and
• The employer’s telephone number.

The statute specifically indicates the information must be provided in a single notice, not pieced together from multiple documents, such as offer letters, handbooks, and paystubs.

The employee must sign and acknowledge receipt of the notice and the employer must keep a copy of it for at least three years.

Noncompliance carries a fine, with escalating penalties for subsequent offenses. Each affected employee may constitute a separate violation.

Oregon

All employers, regardless of size: an employer must provide new employees, at the time they are hired, with a written explanation of the earnings and deductions shown on their itemized pay statements. The explanation must include a list of the following information:

• The employer’s established regular pay period;

• A comprehensive list of:
  • All types of pay rates that employees may be eligible for, including hourly pay, salary pay, shift differentials, piece-rate pay and commission-based pay;
  • All benefit deductions and contributions; and
  • Every type of deduction that may apply;
• The purpose of deductions that may be made during a regular pay period;
• Any allowances claimed as part of minimum wage;
• Employer-provided benefits that may appear on itemized pay statements as contributions and deductions.
• All payroll codes used for pay rates and deductions, along with a detailed description or definition of each code.

The required information must be sufficiently detailed to explain pay rates and deduction codes but does not have to be in complete sentences. An employer must update the information by January 1 of each year.

Employers may satisfy the requirement to provide this information to employees by making the information available in a location easily accessible to them, such as through a link to a website, by email, by posting a document on an intranet website or by physically posting a document at a central work location.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI) has published sample notices employers may use. Click here for an English version. Click here for a Spanish verasoni.

BOLI may issue a $500 civil penalty against any person who violates the amended law or any rule BOLI later adopts under the amended law. Employees do not have a private right of action to bring a civil action for statutory violations.