I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2125 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require certain disclosures by employers who use electronic payroll cards to pay their employees. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2011 

Mr. BACA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require 

certain disclosures by employers who use electronic payroll cards to pay their employees. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electronic Paycard 

5 Protection Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURES AND OPTIONS RELATED TO ELEC2 TRONIC PAYROLL CARDS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Labor Standards Act of 

4 1933 is amended by adding after section 6 the following 

5 new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 6A. DISCLOSURES AND OPTIONS RELATED TO ELEC7 TRONIC PAYROLL CARDS. 

8 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED DISCLOSURES.—Any employer who 

9 pays or wishes to pay any employee by means of an elec10 tronic payroll card shall comply with the following require11 ments and provide to each such employee the following 

12 disclosures and options at the time the employee is pro13 vided the option to enroll in a program providing for pay14 ment using such cards: 

15 ‘‘(1) The employee shall be provided the ability 

16 to access his or her full wages for the pay period 

17 using the electronic payroll card at least once each 

18 period, without any additional fee, and shall be pro19 vided the option of checking the balance available 

20 through the electronic payroll card through an auto21 mated telephone system or through the Internet or 

22 by other electronic means. 

23 ‘‘(2) All the terms and conditions governing the 

24 use of the electronic payroll card, including any per25 missible fees associated with such cards, shall be dis26 closed to the employee in a clear, written manner 


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1 and in the language typically used by the employer 

2 to communicate with the employee. 

3 ‘‘(3) No fees may be assessed to the employee 

4 for ordinary use of the electronic payroll card, in5 cluding for participation, initiation, adding funds to 

6 the card, checking the balance on the card or other 

7 account maintenance activities, inactivity or dor8 mancy, low balance, declined transaction, or request 

9 to obtain the balance on the card by check in order 

10 to close out the card. 

11 ‘‘(4) The employer shall maintain the payroll 

12 funds that are accessible by means of the electronic 

13 payroll card only in an insured depository institution 

14 (as defined section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insur15 ance Act) or an insured credit union (as defined in 

16 section 101 of the Federal Credit Union Act), in an 

17 account or accounts for which the Federal Deposit 

18 Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union 

19 Administration, respectively, provides pass-through 

20 deposit insurance based on the interest of each em21 ployee participating in the electronic payroll card 

22 program. The full amount of funds made available 

23 to each employee through an electronic payroll card 

24 shall be guaranteed by the employer. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Any funds made available through the 

2 electronic payroll card may not expire. If the elec3 tronic payroll card expires, the employee shall be 

4 provided the option to terminate his or her enroll5 ment in the program or to re-enroll and be issued 

6 a new card without any fee. Any balance remaining 

7 on the expired card must be transferred in full to 

8 the newly issued card. 

9 ‘‘(6) The employer is required to offer the em10 ployee the option of payment through direct deposit 

11 to a savings or checking account of the employee’s 

12 choosing in lieu of payment through an electronic 

13 payroll card. 

14 ‘‘(7) The employer may not pay an employee’s 

15 final payment or any severance payment to any em16 ployee whose employment with the employer is dis17 continued. 

18 ‘‘(8) An employee may not be subject to termi19 nation of employment for opting not to participate 

20 in any electronic payroll card program. Consent to 

21 participate in any such program shall not be a con22 dition of employment at the time of hiring. 

23 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the terms 

24 ‘electronic payroll card’ and ‘card’ mean an access mecha25 nism, including a prepaid card, code, or device, issued to 


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1 an employee by an employer, or other entity by arrange2 ment with the employer, through which an employer pro3 vides an employee access to his or her wages.’’. 

4 (b) VIOLATION AND PENALTIES.—Section 15(a)(2) 

5 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 215(a)(2)) is amended by inserting 

6 ‘‘, section 6A,’’ after ‘‘section 6’’. 

Æ 


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