I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2299
To establish the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program in the
Department of Labor.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH24, 2025
Mr. G
ROTHMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To establish the Payroll Audit Independent Determination
program in the Department of Labor.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Workers Get 4
PAID Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) In 2018, the Department of Labor launched 8
the nationwide Payroll Audit Independent Deter-9
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mination pilot program (referred to in this section as 1
‘‘PAID pilot program’’). 2
(2) The Secretary of Labor, acting through the 3
Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, es-4
tablished the PAID pilot program to complement en-5
forcement and compliance assistance tools under-6
taken by the Wage and Hour Division of the De-7
partment of Labor. 8
(3) The Secretary has a longstanding practice 9
of providing self-audit and office audit programs, as 10
noted by Secretary Marty Walsh in a response for 11
the record following a hearing before the Committee 12
on Education and Labor of the House of Represent-13
atives on June 9, 2021. 14
(4) The Wage and Hour Division, through the 15
PAID pilot program, worked with employers on a 16
voluntary basis to remedy unintentional violations of 17
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 18
201 et seq.), which is the Federal statute estab-19
lishing minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, 20
and youth-employment requirements affecting em-21
ployees in the private sector and in Federal, State, 22
and local governments. 23
(5) The PAID pilot program yielded positive re-24
sults for employers and employees. Between April 1, 25
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2018, and September 15, 2019, the Wage and Hour 1
Division concluded 74 PAID pilot program cases, 2
representing less than one percent of all compliance 3
actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 4
1938, with a total of $4,131,238 in back wages paid 5
to 7,429 employees through such PAID pilot pro-6
gram cases. 7
(6) Self-audits through the PAID pilot program 8
by employers returned more back wages to employ-9
ees in less time than compliance actions overall. In 10
fact, during the period described in paragraph (5)— 11
(A) the average back wages paid per case 12
for PAID pilot program cases ($55,828) were 13
more than 4 times the average back wages paid 14
per compliance action ($11,355); 15
(B) the average back wages paid per en-16
forcement hour for PAID pilot program cases 17
($2,864) was more than 10 times greater than 18
the average back wages paid per enforcement 19
hour for compliance actions ($279); 20
(C) on average, nearly 10 times more em-21
ployees received back wages in each PAID pilot 22
program case than in investigations conducted 23
using traditional methods; 24
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(D) self-audits through the PAID pilot 1
program averaged 19 hours per case as com-2
pared to 41 hours per case for the Secretary 3
conducted using traditional methods; and 4
(E) self-audits through the PAID pilot 5
program reached employers that the Wage and 6
Hour Division would not typically prioritize for 7
enforcement, including government establish-8
ments and industry sectors with higher-wage 9
occupations. 10
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 11
In this Act: 12
(1) A
FFECTED EMPLOYEE .—The term ‘‘af-13
fected employee’’ means an employee affected by a 14
violation of a minimum wage or overtime hours re-15
quirement of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 16
(29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), excluding any employee 17
subject to prevailing wage requirements under the 18
H–1B, H–2B, or H–2A visa programs, subchapter 19
IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United States Code 20
(commonly referred to as the ‘‘Davis-Bacon Act’’), 21
or chapter 67 of title 41, United States Code (com-22
monly known as the ‘‘Service Contract Act’’). 23
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(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-1
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Wage and 2
Hour Division of the Department of Labor. 3
(3) E
MPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’— 4
(A) has the meaning given such term in 5
section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 6
1938 (29 U.S.C. 203); and 7
(B) with respect to an employer, includes 8
a former employee of such employer. 9
(4) E
MPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ has the 10
meaning given such term in section 3 of such Act. 11
(5) G
OOD FAITH.—The term ‘‘good faith’’ 12
means, with respect to an employer applying for par-13
ticipation in the Payroll Audit Independent Deter-14
mination program established under section 4, that 15
such employer is not, at the time such employer sub-16
mits an application for such program— 17
(A) under investigation by the Secretary 18
for an alleged violation of a minimum wage or 19
overtime hours requirement of the Fair Labor 20
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.); 21
or 22
(B) subject to a lawsuit related to an al-23
leged violation of such a requirement. 24
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(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1
the Secretary of Labor. 2
(7) S
ELF-AUDIT.—The term ‘‘self-audit’’ means 3
an audit conducted by an employer to resolve inac-4
curacies by the employer in the computation of 5
wages and overtime compensation required under 6
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 within the 7
statute of limitations described in section 6(a) of the 8
Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 (29 U.S.C. 255(a)). 9
SEC. 4. PAYROLL AUDIT INDEPENDENT DETERMINATION 10
PROGRAM. 11
(a) P
ROGRAMESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator 12
shall establish a Payroll Audit Independent Determination 13
program (referred to in this section as the ‘‘program’’) 14
to foster collaboration with employers that inadvertently 15
violate the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 16
201 et seq.) to voluntarily remedy, within the statute of 17
limitations described in section 6(a) of the Portal-to-Por-18
tal Act of 1947 (29 U.S.C. 255(a)), unpaid minimum 19
wages or overtime compensation owed to any affected em-20
ployee under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. 21
(b) A
PPLICATIONREQUIREMENTS.— 22
(1) R
ESOURCES FOR COMPLIANCE ASSIST -23
ANCE.—Not later than 30 days after the date of en-24
actment of this Act, the Administrator shall make 25
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available to employers resources for assistance in 1
complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 2
1938, including content regarding wage and hour re-3
quirements, which shall be offered online, through 4
printed materials, and through other outreach activi-5
ties. 6
(2) A
PPLICATION.—An employer seeking to 7
participate in the program shall submit an applica-8
tion to the Administrator that includes— 9
(A) materials related to and the results of 10
a self-audit, including— 11
(i) an identification of any practice of 12
such employer identified in a self-audit 13
that may violate a minimum wage or over-14
time compensation requirement of the Fair 15
Labor Standards Act of 1938; and 16
(ii) a list of each employee who may 17
be an affected employee with respect to 18
such violation, including— 19
(I) the period of time such em-20
ployee would have been affected by 21
such violation; 22
(II) payroll records related to 23
such employee for such period with in-24
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formation on the hours of work per-1
formed by such employee; 2
(III) calculations of unpaid min-3
imum wages or overtime compensation 4
owed to such employee under the Fair 5
Labor Standards Act of 1938 with a 6
description of the methodology of such 7
calculation and supporting evidence; 8
and 9
(IV) contact information for such 10
employee; 11
(B) an explanation of the scope of poten-12
tial violations of a minimum wage or overtime 13
compensation requirement of such Act for inclu-14
sion in a release of claims under subsection (d); 15
(C) an assurance that any practice of such 16
employer that violates a minimum wage or over-17
time compensation requirement of the Fair 18
Labor Standards Act of 1938 that is identified 19
in the self-audit has been corrected to comply 20
with such Act; 21
(D) an assurance that such employer has, 22
prior to submitting such application, reviewed 23
the compliance assistance resources made avail-24
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able under paragraph (1) and all program in-1
formation, terms, and requirements; 2
(E) an assurance that, on the date of sub-3
mission of such application, such employer— 4
(i) is not involved in any litigation re-5
garding any practice of such employer that 6
is identified in the self-audit; and 7
(ii) has not received any communica-8
tions from an employee or a representative 9
of an employee seeking to litigate or settle 10
claims related to any such practice; and 11
(F) an assurance that no employee listed 12
in subparagraph (A)(ii) is subject to a pre-13
vailing wage requirement under the H–1B, H– 14
2B, or H–2A visa programs, subchapter IV of 15
chapter 31 of title 40, United States Code 16
(commonly referred to as the ‘‘Davis-Bacon 17
Act’’), or chapter 67 of title 41, United States 18
Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Service Con-19
tract Act’’). 20
(c) A
PPLICATIONREVIEW ANDAPPROVAL.— 21
(1) R
EVIEW AND AMENDMENT .—The Adminis-22
trator shall review each application submitted by an 23
employer under subsection (b)(2). As part of such 24
review, the Administrator shall— 25
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(A) as necessary, consult with such em-1
ployer regarding— 2
(i) the self-audit and supporting mate-3
rials submitted in the application; and 4
(ii) the process for approval of such 5
application and settlement of unpaid min-6
imum wages or overtime compensation 7
owed to any affected employee under the 8
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 9
U.S.C. 201 et seq.); 10
(B) inform such employer in a timely man-11
ner and prior to a determination on the ap-12
proval of the application if additional informa-13
tion is needed to assess the unpaid minimum 14
wages or overtime compensation owed to any 15
affected employee for the violations of such Act 16
identified in the application through the self- 17
audit; and 18
(C) provide such employer an opportunity 19
to amend such application to revise the scope of 20
the practices of such employer that violate a 21
minimum wage or overtime compensation re-22
quirement of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 23
1938 that are identified in the application 24
through self-audit, to update the list of affected 25
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employees with respect to the practices at issue 1
in the self-audit, and to update the calculations 2
of unpaid minimum wages or overtime com-3
pensation owed to any affected employee as a 4
result of such violations. 5
(2) A
PPROVAL.— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If the conditions under 7
subparagraph (B) are satisfied with respect to 8
an application submitted under subsection 9
(b)(2), the Administrator shall— 10
(i) approve the application— 11
(I) in the case the application 12
has not been amended under para-13
graph (1)(C), not later than 30 days 14
after such submission; or 15
(II) in the case the application 16
has been amended under paragraph 17
(1)(C), not later than 30 days after 18
the date of submission of such amend-19
ed application; and 20
(ii) supervise the settlement under 21
subsection (d), including the payment of 22
any unpaid minimum wages or overtime 23
compensation under the Fair Labor Stand-24
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ards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) 1
required through such settlement. 2
(B) C
ONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL .—An ap-3
plication submitted under subsection (b)(2) 4
shall be approved under subparagraph (A) if— 5
(i) within the scope of the violations 6
identified by the employer through the ap-7
plication or an amendment to the applica-8
tion under paragraph (1)(C), the Adminis-9
trator verifies that the self-audit and cal-10
culation of unpaid minimum wages or over-11
time compensation owed to any affected 12
employee under the Fair Labor Standards 13
Act of 1938 submitted in such application 14
or amendment are accurate; and 15
(ii) the employer submitting the appli-16
cation— 17
(I) is determined to be acting in 18
good faith regarding violations of the 19
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 20
identified in such application or 21
amendment; 22
(II) has not been found by the 23
Administrator or any court of law to 24
have violated a minimum wage or 25
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overtime compensation requirement of 1
such Act during the 5 years imme-2
diately preceding submission of such 3
application; and 4
(III) has not been approved for 5
participation in the program prior to 6
the submission of such application, 7
unless— 8
(aa) such participation was 9
for a distinct violation of the 10
Fair Labor Standards Act of 11
1938 than the practice identified 12
in the self-audit under subsection 13
(b)(2); and 14
(bb) such employer has sub-15
mitted the necessary materials 16
for the Administrator to verify 17
that such employer is not engag-18
ing in the practice addressed by 19
the previous participation of the 20
employer in the program. 21
(d) S
ETTLEMENT.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—For each employer that sub-23
mits an application under subsection (b)(2) that is 24
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approved under subsection (c)(2), the Administrator 1
shall— 2
(A) provide to the employer a description 3
of the scope of the potential release of claims 4
for violations of minimum wage or overtime 5
compensation requirements of the Fair Labor 6
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) 7
and a summary of any unpaid minimum wages 8
or overtime compensation owed to each affected 9
employee under such Act for such violations; 10
and 11
(B) issue a release form to each affected 12
employee of such employer that describes the 13
settlement terms, which shall include a written 14
explanation of— 15
(i) the waiver under paragraph 16
(2)(B); and 17
(ii) the right of the affected employee 18
receiving the offer for settlement to decline 19
the offer for settlement and preserve any 20
private right of action of the employee to 21
recover any unpaid minimum wages or 22
overtime compensation owed to the em-23
ployee under the Fair Labor Standards 24
Act of 1938 as a result of such violations. 25
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(2) ACCEPTANCE OF SETTLEMENT .— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—An affected employee 2
offered a settlement through a release form 3
under paragraph (1)(B) may accept or decline 4
the offer. 5
(B) W
AIVER OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC -6
TION.—The acceptance by an affected employee 7
of an offer of settlement under subparagraph 8
(A) shall, upon payment in full of any amounts 9
owed to the employee under the settlement, con-10
stitute a waiver by such employee of any right 11
such employee may have under section 16 of 12
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 13
U.S.C. 216) to a private right of action to re-14
cover unpaid minimum wages or overtime com-15
pensation, including any liquidated damages, 16
for the violations addressed by the settlement. 17
(3) P
AYMENT OF SETTLEMENT .—For each af-18
fected employee that accepts a settlement through a 19
release form under paragraph (1)(B), the employer 20
shall— 21
(A) pay such employee the full amount of 22
unpaid minimum wages or overtime compensa-23
tion owed to such employee under the Fair 24
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 25
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et seq.) for the violations addressed in the set-1
tlement; and 2
(B) submit proof of payment of such full 3
amount to the Administrator. 4
(e) A
DDITIONALREQUIREMENTS.— 5
(1) D
ENIALS.—In the case of an application 6
submitted by an employer under subsection (b)(2) 7
and not approved under subsection (c)(2), the Ad-8
ministrator may not— 9
(A) use information submitted in the appli-10
cation in an investigation against the employer; 11
(B) use the fact such employer applied to 12
the program as a basis for any future investiga-13
tion, except in a case in which the Adminis-14
trator has reason to believe that the health and 15
safety of an employee is at risk due to an al-16
leged violation related to a requirement en-17
forced by the Secretary involving child labor, 18
agricultural worker protections, or housing or 19
transportation requirements under the H–2A or 20
H–2B visa programs; or 21
(C) communicate to any affected employee 22
of such employer in response to receipt of such 23
application to notify such employee of the pri-24
vate right of action of such employee to resolve 25
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potential violations of the Fair Labor Standards 1
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), particu-2
larly with respect to the wage practices at issue 3
in the self-audit. 4
(2) E
XPANSION OF SCOPE.—The Administrator 5
may not expand the scope of the violations to be in-6
vestigated or settled through an employer’s partici-7
pation in the program beyond the violations identi-8
fied by the employer in the application submitted by 9
the employer under subsection (b)(2) or the amend-10
ed application submitted by the employer under sub-11
section (c)(1)(C). 12
(3) N
O PAYMENTS REQUIRED .—The Adminis-13
trator may not require any form of payment by an 14
employer to apply, qualify, or participate in the pro-15
gram. 16
(4) E
XEMPTION FROM DISCOVERY .—Any infor-17
mation submitted in an application to the program 18
under subsection (b)(2), or an amendment to such 19
application under subsection (c)(1)(C), may not be 20
subject to discovery in a Federal or State court pro-21
ceeding without the consent of the employer that 22
submitted the application. 23
(f) R
ETALIATION.—Section 15(a)(3) of the Fair 24
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3)) is 25
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amended by inserting before the semicolon the following: 1
‘‘, or has accepted or declined to accept an offer for settle-2
ment under section 4(d) of the Ensuring Workers Get 3
PAID Act of 2025’’. 4
Æ
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