27 pay period madness!!! I need advice?

Question

Hello all!

I am going to make this short and sweet but I need some advice.

I started working for an organization May 15 2009 and was part time until the end of the year.
Starting Jan. 1 2010 I was a full time employee. I was given a really low annual salary of 21500 per year. I went to the pay roll gal to see what my payments would be. She said that this year would have 27 pay periods. I didn't care because I was excited to have some money coming in than previous. However, my boss and coworkers who got a raise suddenly saw their paycheck decrease in the 2010 year.

I left that job in August after our company was questioned because of the payroll. An auditor basically said that because there was 27 pay periods it should NOT mean that everyone's pay check should be divided by 27 which is what wsa done to my checks. The company agreed that it made a boo boo and that we were to be reinversed for the new year.

Before I left my last paycheck was adjusted to the "correct" amount and so was my final paycheck. However i was not compensated for the "clerical errror". I was then told that it didn't apply to me because i was part time in 2009. 

Something isn't right because **** ***** adjusted my last too paychecks using a 26 pay period..but all the paychecks from jan until july was for the 27 period.

What's going on? What should I do?

A Hunch · Accepted Answer

Are you in the United States and working 40 hours a week?
If so, they are not allowed to be paying you salary.  You have to make at least $23600 a year to be paid salary.  They also are required to pay you overtime, if you work overtime.  Here is some more information on that:  http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html  (fyi - exempt means salary; non-exempt means hourly).

If you work 40 hours a week and are earning $21500, you should be earning $10.34 per hour or $413.60 a week before deductions.  If this is NOT what you earned every pay period between Jan 1 & now, your employer needs to adjust your payroll.

When there is 27 pay periods a year, your salary is still determine by taking the annual amount and dividing by 26 (in your case $21500/26 = 413.60).  The "extra" payroll is an adjustment that happens every 7 years.  For that one year, you will earn $21500+413.6 = 21913.60.  Then the next year your W2 is only for the $21500.

It's hard to explain in writing.  I hope I was able to explain it ok.

27 pay period madness!!! I need advice?

1 Answer