Pay Stub Error? How to Dispute a Payroll Mistake and Get It Corrected

You check your pay stub and something's off. The hours don't match what you worked. Overtime is missing. A deduction you didn't authorize appeared. Or your gross pay just looks wrong.

Payroll errors happen more often than most employers would admit. Studies consistently find that 1 in 4 Americans experiences a payroll mistake at some point. The good news: you have clear legal rights, and most errors — when caught quickly — get corrected within a pay cycle or two.

Here's how to identify common pay stub errors, document them properly, and get them corrected.

Common Pay Stub Errors to Watch For

Wrong Hours Worked

The most frequent error. Your timesheet said 42 hours but your pay stub shows 40. Or the system missed a shift. Always compare your pay stub hours to your own records — keep a log of your hours worked, especially if you don't have automatic time tracking.

Missing or Miscalculated Overtime

Federal law (FLSA) requires overtime pay at 1.5x your regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Some states have stricter rules — California requires overtime for hours over 8 in a single day. If you worked more than 40 hours and don't see overtime on your stub, that's a potential violation, not just an inconvenience.

Wrong Pay Rate

You were promoted or got a raise, but the new rate didn't make it into payroll. Or a misclassification error has you at the wrong rate. Check that your gross pay divided by your hours equals the rate you agreed to.

Unauthorized Deductions

Deductions you didn't authorize or don't recognize — a benefits premium change that wasn't communicated, a garnishment that's calculating wrong, a "miscellaneous" deduction without explanation. Each deduction line on your stub should have a clear label and match something you agreed to.

Tax Withholding Errors

Federal or state withholding that's wildly off from expectations. This often traces back to a W-4 that wasn't updated correctly after a life change, but occasionally it's a payroll system error — like applying the wrong filing status.

Missing Paid Time Off

PTO you used not being deducted (resulting in more pay than expected, which could cause an overpayment clawback later) or PTO accrual not accumulating at the correct rate.

Step 1: Document the Discrepancy Before Anything Else

Before contacting anyone, build your paper trail:

• Save the pay stub in question (screenshot or PDF)
• Pull your timesheet records, shift logs, or clock-in/clock-out data
• Note the specific dollar amount of the error
• Pull prior pay stubs if the error may be recurring

This documentation is your foundation. If the dispute escalates, you'll need it. Even if it resolves quickly, documentation protects you if the issue reappears next cycle.

Step 2: Raise It with HR or Payroll — In Writing

Go to your HR department or payroll contact. Email is better than verbal for this — it creates a record of when you reported the error and what you reported.

What to include in your email:

• Your name, employee ID, and the pay period in question
• Specific description of the error: "My pay stub for the period ending [date] shows [X hours] but I worked [Y hours] per the attached timesheet"
• The amount you believe is owed
• Your request: correction on the next pay cycle, or an off-cycle correction payment if the amount is significant
• Attachments: your pay stub and the supporting evidence

Keep the tone professional and factual. Payroll errors are usually administrative mistakes, not bad faith — treating it as a problem to solve together gets faster results than treating it as an accusation.

Step 3: Know the Timeline

Most employers correct payroll errors on the next regular pay cycle. If the error is significant (more than a day's pay), you can reasonably request an off-cycle payment — most payroll systems can issue a manual check or ACH within a few days.

If HR says they'll "look into it" without committing to a timeline, follow up after 3-5 business days with a written status check.

Step 4: Escalate If Needed

If your employer doesn't correct the error within one or two pay cycles, or disputes your documentation, escalation options include:

State Labor Board

Every state has a labor board or department of labor that handles wage disputes. Filing a wage claim is usually free and doesn't require an attorney. For clear-cut underpayments (wrong hours, missing overtime), state agencies resolve most claims within 60-90 days.

U.S. Department of Labor — Wage and Hour Division

For federal FLSA violations (missing overtime, minimum wage issues), you can file a complaint with the WHD at dol.gov. They investigate and can recover back wages plus liquidated damages (double the unpaid amount) in willful cases.

Private Legal Action

For larger amounts or patterns of violations, an employment attorney can advise on a wage claim lawsuit. Many work on contingency for wage theft cases. The FLSA has a 2-year statute of limitations (3 years for willful violations), so don't wait.

Your Rights: Key Protections

• Employers cannot retaliate against you for raising a payroll dispute — that's a separate violation
• Most states require employers to pay wages within a specified number of days of the pay period end
• Employers generally cannot deduct from wages without written authorization (except taxes and legally required deductions)
• Overtime cannot be waived — even if you agreed to work extra hours without extra pay, the FLSA still requires it

Preventing Future Errors

Review every pay stub the day it arrives, not just when something feels wrong. Cross-check hours, rate, deductions, and YTD totals. A quick 5-minute review each pay period catches errors before they compound and makes disputes easier to resolve — you'll have contemporaneous records rather than trying to reconstruct history months later.

Tools like paystubparser.com can extract structured data from pay stub PDFs automatically, making it easier to compare multiple periods, spot deduction changes, or verify rate calculations — useful for employees managing their own records or HR teams auditing payroll accuracy.