H.R. 2299 — Ensuring Workers Get PAID Act of 2025

This section declares congressional findings regarding the Department of Labor's Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) pilot program, launched in 2018 to facilitate voluntary employer self-audits remedying unintentional Fair Labor Standards Act violations. The findings note that, from April 1, 2018, to September 15, 2019, the program concluded 74 cases (less than 1% of compliance actions), recovering $4,131,238 in back wages for 7,429 employees, with superior efficiency over 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, 19 hours per case (vs. 41 hours), and outreach to non-priority employers such as government entities and higher-wage sectors.

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act as follows: (1) "affected employee" as an employee affected by a minimum wage or overtime violation under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), excluding those subject to prevailing wage requirements under the H-1B, H-2B, or H-2A visa programs, the Davis-Bacon Act, or the Service Contract Act; (2) "Administrator" as the Wage and Hour Division Administrator of the Department of Labor; (3) "employee" as defined in FLSA section 3, including former employees with respect to an employer; (4) "employer" as defined in FLSA section 3; (5) "good faith" as an employer not under investigation or subject to a lawsuit for FLSA minimum wage or overtime violations when applying for the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program; (6) "Secretary" as the Secretary of Labor; and (7) "self-audit" as an employer-conducted audit to resolve FLSA wage and overtime computation inaccuracies within the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 statute of limitations.

This section establishes the Payroll Audit Independent Determination program, administered by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Administrator, to enable employers with inadvertent Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage or overtime violations to voluntarily self-audit, calculate back wages owed to affected employees within the two- or three-year statute of limitations (per 29 U.S.C. 255(a)), correct violations, and enter supervised settlements. (The FLSA (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) sets federal minimum wage, overtime pay, and recordkeeping requirements for most private and public employers.) Specifically, the section (1) requires the Administrator to provide FLSA compliance resources (online, print, and outreach) within 30 days of enactment; (2) sets employer application requirements, including self-audit materials identifying violations and affected employees (with periods, records, calculations, and contact information), violation scope for releases, correction assurances, prior review of resources, and certifications of no litigation or prevailing wage applicability (e.g., H-1B/H-2 visas, Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act); and (3) directs application review with employer consultation and amendment opportunities, approval within 30 days if self-audit calculations are verified as accurate and other conditions met, and Administrator supervision of settlements. This section also amends FLSA section 15(a)(3) (29 U.S.C. 215(a)(3)) to prohibit retaliation (i.e., discharge or discrimination) against employees who accept or decline a settlement offer under the program's subsection (d). (Thus, employees are protected from retaliation for participating in or rejecting program-facilitated remedies.)