It is quite natural to stumble upon troubles regarding your paycheck. Sometimes there may be the problem of pay lag; sometimes, there is an overtime cap. Sometimes people worry about the situation when they leave the job. The Payroll Administration office in New York City has been working tirelessly to solve every employee’s problem related to their payroll. However, sometimes people get worried about the commonest issues. Check out these frequently asked questions about payroll-related issues before you start worrying. This way, you may get all the answers to your questions-
- How to calculate the bi-weekly gross pay?
When it comes to annual salary, the yearly wage gets divided by the total number of days in the current year. Typically, a fiscal year has 365 days, apart from the leap years with 366 days. The result needs to be multiplied by 14, as those many days are there in a pay period. The answer is the bi-weekly gross pay yours.
- What is the reason for the mismatch between the W-2 amounts with the annual salary?
This can happen due to many reasons-
- W-2 shows the earnings in a calendar year. The amounts of premium pay or back pay may be included with this and the regular salary amount. The salary may change in the year, and one may not work or get paid for a whole year.
- W-2 shows different earnings resulting from the accumulation from the full pay periods in a calendar year. Usually, there are 26 paydays in a calendar year. As there are 14 days in a pay period, the total number of days it accounts for is 364 days. Sometimes there are 27 paydays. We have seen that in 2015. On the other hand, the annual salary and the biweekly rate get calculated based on the actual number of days available in a calendar year. As a result, you can see a difference of one or two days between the W-2 and the annual salary.
- In some cases, the earnings may get adjusted for pre-tax programs. On the other hand, some benefits like deferred compensation and the medical spending conversion program get adjusted on the W-2. As a result, you get to see the taxable earnings instead of total gross earnings.
- How to tell how much time one has?
According to the norms of most of the agencies, the left balances indicate the pay statement. In the statement, the ‘as of’ date is based upon a two-week lag. To know the exact balance, one needs to follow these steps-
Subtract time used and add compensatory time earned after the ‘as of’ date. Along with that, one needs to check the leave accruals calendar as well. One may check the dates that show up on the pay statement and add the accruals for the month before. In this way, one can calculate the exact number of days left easily.
- What is the process of pay lag?
The process of pay lag is depended upon the way one gets paid-
Most of the people are paid an annual salary. In this case, one receives a yearly compensation. They get paid every two weeks on Friday. In this way, one gets paid for up to two weeks, including the Saturday before the payday. Naturally, there remains a pay lag of one week. Along with that, exceptional pays like overtime, shift differentials, etc., are reported only after the payment calculation. So, naturally, the next paycheck adjusts these differences. As a result, there remains a pay lag of two-week.
Finally, if the payment gets done hourly, the pay is calculated, including two Saturdays before the payday. As a result, in that case, the pay lag is for two weeks.
In the case of weekly payment, the pay gets calculated along with the Saturday before payday. So, the lag is thereof one week.
- After leaving a job, how much time is necessary to get the pay from the beginning?
It depends on the pay lag system. No amount gets held initially, but because of the structure of calculation, it appears so. Depending on the pay lag period on your case, you will get paid after you stop working.
- What is Overtime, Cap?
The payment for working overtime has a limit, and it is called the Overtime cap. The amount gets decided according to the Citywide Agreement. If the total annual salary and the additional pays exceed the amount, one doesn’t get paid for overtime. They get a compensatory time instead.
However, when it comes to the FLSA or Fair Labor Standards Act, the overtime cap doesn’t apply.
We hope you get your answers from this list of FAQs.