What goes in
Three things: the state where you work, your pay stub, and your own record of hours and tips for each workweek in the pay period. The stub says what you were paid. Your record says what you worked and earned in tips. Most underpayments show up as a gap between the two.
Which rules apply
Federal wage law sets a floor everywhere. A state can add protection on top, never take it away. So for each rule TruWage takes the one that protects you more: the higher minimum wage, the higher tipped cash wage, the earlier overtime threshold, the stricter limit on deductions. That is also how the law itself works.
Rules are picked by date. If your state raised its minimum wage partway through the year, a pay period that ends after the change is checked against the new rate.
The ten checks
1. Hours
Regular plus overtime hours on the stub, compared with the hours you recorded. Missing hours are valued at your regular rate.
2. Gross pay math
Hours times rates, plus other pay and card tips paid through payroll, should equal the gross on the stub. A gap in either direction is flagged.
3. Minimum wage
For hourly workers: is the rate at least the minimum wage? For tipped workers: in each workweek, did your cash wage plus the tips you kept reach the minimum wage for every hour? Weeks are judged one at a time, because a good week cannot make up for a slow one.
4. Tip credit
Does your state allow a tip credit at all, and is your cash wage at least the tipped minimum? If your employer never told you about the tip credit, it is flagged for a closer look.
5. Overtime
Hours past 40 in a workweek, and in some states past 8 in a day, should be paid at time and a half. For tipped workers, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. If a pay period cuts a workweek in half, overtime for that week is marked as needing the next stub.
6. Missed breaks
A few states owe extra pay when a required meal or rest break is not provided, such as an extra hour of pay in California. If yours does, and you mark missed breaks, the premium is calculated.
7. Deductions
Uniforms, register shortages, breakage, customer walkouts and card fees taken from tips are checked against your state's rules. Some states ban them outright. Elsewhere they cannot take your pay below the minimum wage.
8. Tip pool
Managers, supervisors and owners may never share in a tip pool. Cooks and dishwashers may share only when the employer does not take a tip credit, and some states bar them either way.
9. Service charges
A mandatory service charge is not a tip under federal law. If your stub counts one as tips, it is flagged.
10. Social Security and Medicare
Withholding should be 6.2% and 1.45% of your wages plus reported tips. Too much is flagged as an overcharge. Too little is noted, since it can happen when your cash wage is too small to cover the tax on your tips.
Reading a result
Each check comes back one of four ways. Pass means it lines up. Short means the numbers show money owed, with the amount. Worth a look means something is off but needs a human to judge. Needs more information means the stub alone cannot settle it. Each one shows the rule it applied, with a citation and a link to the source.
Where the rules come from
Each state's rules come from that state's labor agency pages and statutes, and federal rules from the U.S. Department of Labor. Each state page shows the date its rules were last checked. Many scheduled changes, like a January 1 minimum wage increase, are already entered with their start dates, but not every announced change is on file yet. The rules are public: the same files the checker uses are at /data/rules/.
What a pay stub cannot show
- City and county minimum wages. Many cities set a higher minimum. Your state page lists the ones we know of.
- Employer size. A few states have lower rates or different overtime rules for small employers.
- Your job duties. Time spent on non-tipped work can change whether a tip credit applies.
- Paperwork you signed. Some deductions are legal with your written consent.
Each result lists the limits that apply in your state, so you know when to read it with care.
Privacy
All of this happens on your device. The website downloads the public rules and does the math in your browser. The apps do the same on your phone. See privacy for the details.
Check your own paycheck
Enter your stub and your hours. The checker applies your state's rules and shows anything that is short, with the rule behind it. Nothing you type leaves your browser.