Ensuring Workers Get PAID Act of 2025

This bill creates a permanent program at the Department of Labor called the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program. It’s meant to help employers who unintentionally made minimum wage or overtime mistakes do a self-check, report the problem, and quickly pay workers the back wages they are owed, with the Labor Department overseeing the process . The Department must also post clear wage-and-hour guidance for employers within 30 days of the law taking effect. The bill points to earlier PAID pilot results, which returned about $4.1 million to 7,429 workers across 74 cases, often faster and in larger amounts than regular investigations.

Key points

• Who is affected: Employers covered by federal minimum wage and overtime rules, and workers owed back pay because of mistakes. It does not cover workers under H‑1B, H‑2A, or H‑2B visa prevailing wage rules, or those covered by the Davis–Bacon or Service Contract Acts.
• What changes:
  • To use the program, an employer must fix the pay practice, complete a self-audit, list affected workers and time periods, show payroll records and calculations, and apply to the Labor Department.
  • The Department checks the self-audit. If the employer is acting in good faith, has no FLSA pay violation in the last 5 years, and hasn’t used the program for the same issue, the Department must approve within 30 days and supervise the payments .
  • Each worker gets a written offer. Workers can accept and get full back pay, or decline and keep their right to sue. If a worker accepts and is paid, they give up the right to sue later for those same violations .
  • If an application is denied, the Department cannot use the application info against the employer, start an investigation just because they applied (with limited safety-related exceptions), or contact workers to encourage lawsuits based on the self-audit. The Department also cannot expand a case beyond what the employer self-reports, cannot charge fees, and application materials are protected from court discovery without the employer’s consent.
  • The bill updates the Fair Labor Standards Act’s anti‑retaliation language to reference this Act.
• When: Employer guidance must be posted within 30 days of enactment, and—when conditions are met—approvals must happen within 30 days of a complete or amended application .