What does er on a pay stub mean?

Answer 1

ER stands for "Employer Responsible," and refers to the money your employer pays for your health care coverage. Other abbreviations that mean the same thing include "ER HCV" and "ER Health Cov."

Note that many employers subsidize health insurance. For example, the true cost of your healthcare coverage might be $300 per paycheck. If you pay $100, and your employer pays the other $200, then the ER Healthcare Coverage is $200.

Note that this isn't a deduction from your paycheck, and it doesn't affect your income or taxes.

It shows up on your pay stub because it's required by The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, (aka Obamacare). The information isn't actually needed or used by you, your employer, the government, or anyone else.

Opinion: Requiring employers to report information that nobody requires is a pointless government regulation. Employers (including federal, state & local governments) spent millions of dollars retooling their payroll systems to add information that isn't needed or used. Such pointless expenditures damage our economy.