Understanding Your Pay Stub: Every Deduction Explained
Most people check one number on a pay stub. The one at the bottom. Everything above it is a wall of abbreviations that nobody ever sat you down and explained, which is a strange thing to accept about a document that determines how much money you have.
Here is the whole thing, line by line, in the order it usually appears, with the 2026 Minnesota numbers attached. Read it once with your own stub next to you and you will not need to read it again.
Start with what the law says has to be there
Minnesota does not leave the contents of a pay stub to the employer’s taste. Minn. Stat. § 181.032 requires an earnings statement at the end of every pay period containing:
- Your name
- Your rate or rates of pay, and the basis for them — hourly, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission, or another method
- Total hours worked in the period, unless you are exempt
- Gross pay earned in the period
- A list of every deduction made
- Net pay after deductions
- The date the pay period ended
- The employer’s legal name and operating name if different
- The physical address of the employer’s main office, a mailing address if different, and a telephone number
Your earned sick and safe time balance and the hours you used also have to be provided each pay period, per the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.
If half of that is missing from your stub, that is not a formatting preference. It is a compliance problem, and DLI’s wage theft guidance covers it directly.
Gross pay: the number before anything happens
Gross is everything you earned in the period before a single deduction. It should break out into components: regular hours at your base rate, overtime, tips if you are in a tipped role, bonuses, commissions, shift differentials, and paid leave hours used.
Two checks worth doing every time. First, do the hours match what you actually worked? Second, is overtime being paid at 1.5× your regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek? A common error is calculating overtime on base rate alone when a shift differential or a nondiscretionary bonus should have been folded into the regular rate first.
Minnesota’s minimum wage is $11.41 an hour for all employers as of January 1, 2026, with a $9.31 training wage for workers under 20 during their first 90 days. If you work inside Minneapolis, the city rate of $16.37 applies regardless of your employer’s size. St. Paul has its own schedule that varies by employer size. Coverage follows where you physically perform the work, not where the company is headquartered. Minnesota does not allow a tip credit, so tips cannot be used to reach the minimum.
The federal taxes: FICA, OASDI, Med, FIT
OASDI or SS — Social Security. 6.2% of your wages up to the annual wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026. Past that, it stops for the year. Your employer pays a matching 6.2%.
Med or MEDI — Medicare. 1.45% of all wages, with no cap at all. Wages above $200,000 carry an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax withheld from you only; the employer does not match that piece.
Together those two are FICA, 7.65% from you and 7.65% from your employer.
FIT or FWT — federal income tax withholding. This one is not a flat rate. It is an estimate based on the Form W-4 you filled out, your gross for the period, and your pay frequency. It is a prepayment toward your annual tax bill, which is why a big refund means you overpaid all year and a surprise bill means you underpaid. If either keeps happening, the fix is a new W-4, not a complaint to payroll.
The Minnesota lines
MN state income tax withholding. Driven by your Form W-4MN. If you never filed one, your employer generally applies your federal elections, which may not fit your situation.
MN Paid Leave — new in 2026. The state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program launched January 1, 2026. Per Minnesota Paid Leave, the premium is 0.88% of wages for most employers, split between medical leave at 0.61% and family leave at 0.27%, capped at the Social Security wage base. Employers may collect up to half — 0.44% — from employees, and may choose to cover more than their share. Small employers pay a reduced 0.66% rate.
In real numbers: on $1,600 of gross pay, the employee share is about $7.04. It is withheld after tax. If your employer covers your half voluntarily, that amount shows up in Box 14 of your W-2.
What you are buying is up to 12 weeks of medical leave, 12 weeks of family leave, or a combination capped at 20 weeks a year, with job protection. It is insurance, and it is the newest line on most Minnesota stubs.
ESST — earned sick and safe time. Not a deduction. It is an accrual. Under Minn. Stat. § 181.9446 you earn one hour for every 30 hours worked, at least 48 hours a year, carrying over up to an 80-hour balance. It is paid at your normal base rate. Your accrued and used balances have to appear each pay period. New DLI rules clarifying accrual mechanics took effect July 6, 2026.
What you will not see: unemployment insurance. In Minnesota, UI is funded entirely by employers. If something on your stub is labeled as an unemployment deduction from your wages, ask about it.
Benefit deductions and the pre-tax difference
Health, dental, and vision premiums, HSA and FSA contributions, and traditional 401(k) or retirement contributions usually come out pre-tax, meaning they are subtracted before tax is calculated, so a $100 contribution reduces your take-home by less than $100.
Roth 401(k) contributions, life insurance above the excludable amount, and most voluntary supplemental products come out post-tax. That is why your taxable wages and your gross pay are usually different numbers, and why the year-to-date gross on your final stub will not match Box 1 of your W-2.
Garnishments and child support
If a court order is in play, your employer is legally required to withhold, and cannot simply decline. Minnesota caps how much can be taken. Under the state garnishment statute, the limit is tiered — commonly 25%, 15%, or 10% of disposable earnings depending on income level — with a protected floor tied to 40 times the higher of the state or federal minimum wage. At the 2026 state rate of $11.41, that floor is $456.40 a week.
Child support withholding and federal tax levies run under their own rules and their own limits. If a garnishment appears on your stub with no notice, ask for the order. You are entitled to know what is being enforced against you.
Deductions your employer cannot just take
This is the part worth memorizing. Your employer generally may not deduct for claimed indebtedness to the employer — a register shortage, a broken item, a uniform, a customer walkout, a payroll overpayment — without your voluntary written authorization. DLI lists unauthorized deductions among the situations that support a wage claim.
Related: if your employer plans to lower your pay, change the basis of your pay, or change your payday, you are entitled to written notice before the change takes effect. Finding out from your stub is not notice.
A two-minute monthly check
- Do the hours match your own record of what you worked?
- Is the pay rate right, including overtime at 1.5×?
- Can you name every deduction? Any you cannot explain, ask about.
- Did your ESST balance move in the direction it should have?
- Does year-to-date gross track roughly with your own math?
Save your stubs. If a dispute ever arises, the person with the records is in a much stronger position than the person relying on memory.
Roll With Paid. processes payroll for cannabis operators and other high-risk employers across Minnesota, which means we produce a lot of these statements and read a lot of them. Clear stubs are not a nicety. They are how a worker verifies they were paid correctly.
Next: how to report a payroll or wage issue if something does not add up, and what an employer of record is if a second company’s name appears on your stub. More on our Employee Resources page. Employers can read about five payroll mistakes cannabis businesses cannot afford.
Frequently asked questions
What is my employer legally required to put on my pay stub in Minnesota?
Under Minn. Stat. § 181.032: your name, rate or rates of pay and the basis for them, total hours worked unless exempt, gross pay, a list of every deduction, net pay, the pay period end date, the employer’s legal and operating name, the physical address of the main office plus a mailing address if different, and a telephone number. ESST balances and hours used must also be provided each pay period.
What are FICA, OASDI, and Med?
OASDI is Social Security at 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 in 2026. Med is Medicare at 1.45% of all wages with no cap, plus 0.9% more on wages over $200,000. Together they are FICA, and your employer matches the 6.2% and 1.45%.
What is the Minnesota Paid Leave deduction?
The state Paid Family and Medical Leave premium, live since January 1, 2026. The total is 0.88% of wages for most employers, and employers may collect up to half of that — 0.44% — from employees. On $1,600 of gross pay the employee share is roughly $7.04.
Can my employer deduct money without asking me?
Generally not for claimed indebtedness to the employer, which requires your voluntary written authorization. Taxes, court-ordered garnishments, and child support withholding are different and do not need your consent.
What if my pay stub looks wrong?
Ask payroll in writing and keep the reply. If it is not fixed, DLI’s Labor Standards Division helps workers file wage claims at no cost, at 651-284-5075 or dli.laborstandards@state.mn.us.
Roll With Paid. is not a law firm and does not provide legal or tax advice. Rates and thresholds cited are current as of August 2026 and change annually. For advice about your own situation, consult a licensed professional.