“A bill to establish the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program in the Department of Labor.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings concerning the Department of Labor's Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) pilot program, launched in 2018 to facilitate voluntary employer self-audits addressing unintentional violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), which sets minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth-employment requirements. The findings note that, from April 1, 2018, to September 15, 2019, the program concluded 74 cases (less than 1% of FLSA compliance actions), recovering $4,131,238 in back wages for 7,429 employees, with greater efficiency than traditional enforcement—including average back wages per case of $55,828 (vs. $11,355), per enforcement hour of $2,864 (vs. $279), nearly 10 times more employees per case, and 19 hours per case (vs. 41 hours)—and reaching lower-priority employers such as government entities and higher-wage sectors.
This section establishes definitions for terms used in the Act, incorporating by reference the definitions of "employee" and "employer" from section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203)—with "employee" expanded to include, with respect to an employer, a former employee of such employer—and providing the following additional definitions: (1) affected employee, meaning an employee affected by a violation of FLSA minimum wage or overtime requirements, excluding those subject to prevailing wage requirements under the H-1B, H-2B, or H-2A visa programs, Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. ch. 31 subch. IV), or Service Contract Act (41 U.S.C. ch. 67); (2) Administrator, meaning the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor; (3) good faith, meaning, for purposes of applying to the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program under section 4, that the employer is not under investigation by the Secretary of Labor or subject to a related lawsuit for FLSA minimum wage or overtime violations; (4) Secretary, meaning the Secretary of Labor; and (5) self-audit, meaning an employer-conducted audit to resolve inaccuracies in FLSA wages and overtime compensation within the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 statute of limitations (29 U.S.C. 255(a)).
This section establishes the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to enable employers that inadvertently violate FLSA minimum wage or overtime requirements to voluntarily remedy unpaid wages or overtime owed to affected employees within the three-year statute of limitations under the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 (29 U.S.C. 255(a)). The Department of Labor Administrator must provide FLSA compliance resources (e.g., online materials on wage and hour requirements) within 30 days of enactment; employers apply with self-audit results identifying violations and affected employees, calculations of owed amounts, correction assurances, and certifications of no ongoing litigation or prevailing wage applicability; and the Administrator reviews applications (with amendment opportunities), approves qualifying ones within 30 days, and supervises settlements under subsection (d). This section also amends FLSA section 215(a)(3) to prohibit employer retaliation against employees who accept or decline a settlement offer under the program. (Thus, participating employers avoid litigation if they meet program conditions, including verified self-audits and no prior employee claims.)