I'm desperate!

tonia

Last year, we were on bi-weekly payroll. The employee's work Monday through Friday. No problem in calculating overtime. Simple, right?

Ok, so starting in 2012, we went to semi-monthly pays. The checks are on the 15th and the 30th of the month. Pay periods are ending on the 10th and 25th.

Let me give you an example: We were paid on 4/13 (because the 15th fell on a Sunday) for hours worked from 3/26-4/10. And now, we will be paid on 4/30 for hours worked from 4/11-4/25. Since we work Monday-Friday, it would seem I have to go back, look at what hours got paid out on 4/9 and 4/10, redo the whole week to see if the remaining hours from 4/11-13 would have resulted in overtime and pay out the difference.

Am I making it out to be harder than it is? Do I really have to take an employee that worked 21:14 (Monday and Tuesday) (already paid) and then worked 24:17 (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday), go back, calculate what would have resulted in overtime and pay it out?

There has to be a simpler way of doing this.

Still Need Coffee

Hi Tonia! Simply put, most payroll software programs have the technology to calculate this for you. But if you do manual payroll, you're on the right track - OT must be paid out based on any hours worked over 40 in the work week (as defined by the employer), regardless of when the pay period falls.

So the question is, do you define the week as Sunday through Saturday or Monday through Sunday? Assuming it is Sunday through Saturday, using your example concerning 4/8 - 4/14, you would have to consider those hours worked 4/8 - 4/10 in the overtime calculation, and that overtime would be payable on the 30th check.