It just came to my attention that my wife's company may be treating the the payroll leap year (27th pay period) wrong. They're considering it to occur in 2016 and for salaried employees they're reducing their equivalent hourly rate such that the sum of the 27 paychecks will be the same as it would be over 26 paychecks. What should be happening is they just get an additional paycheck.

They way I understand it, they have essentially cut their entire staff's salaries by almost 4%.

Just at first glance this doesn't pass the sniff test because her original offer letter is based on a bi-weekly pay of $x,000 rather than an annual pay of $xx,000. She's been there a few years with annual raises and all of a sudden she's now paid less in a paycheck this year than what she got when she first started.

What recourse do we have in this type of situation? I'm assuming that I can't just call up their CFO and say "You're doing it wrong." Any help is appreciated!

2/15/2016 5:19:16 PM

if her offer letter is based on a bi-weekly pay (weird) then that's what they need to pay her


V edit:yeah, nevermind i just went back and even though we negotiated annual salary my offer letter was bi-weekly pay and maybe the others were the same

[Edited on February 15, 2016 at 5:28 PM. Reason : V]

2/15/2016 5:20:40 PM

All the offer letters I've ever received have been in terms of bi-weekly pay as was the one she received. That's going to be the first thing we bring to his attention but I can see him brushing this off. I'm curious what else could be done if this is ineffective.

2/15/2016 5:25:09 PM

I am confused.

2/15/2016 5:41:32 PM

Quote :

"for salaried employees they're reducing their equivalent hourly rate such that the sum of the 27 paychecks will be the same as it would be over 26 paychecks. What should be happening is they just get an additional paycheck."

That's what they did for me which was perfectly fine. That's the way it works. Either you're hourly and essentially getting an additional 4% or you'll take home the same amount of money you did the previous year.

If your pay is 26K per year and you get paid bi weekly then you'll get paid $1,000 every two weeks, except if there are 27 pay periods, in which case you'll get $962.96 every two weeks, also totaling out to 26K yearly.



[Edited on February 15, 2016 at 5:54 PM. Reason : ]

2/15/2016 5:52:08 PM

I got 27 paychecks at mine all of the same rate.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-jobs-payroll-27thpaycheck-idUSKBN0KH1XI20150108

Go back to offer letter. They never said how much to pay a year. Only specified a bi-weekly pay.


[Edited on February 15, 2016 at 5:57 PM. Reason : ]

2/15/2016 5:56:32 PM

Per your article

Quote :

"Some employers will be paying that 27th paycheck on top of regular salary, resulting in about a 4 percent annual raise, while others will redistribute the set salary among 27 checks."

2/15/2016 6:14:29 PM

Yes, depending on the terms of employment which in her case is bi-weekly rather than salary.

For argument's sake let's assume I'm right. What recourse do we have?

2/15/2016 6:51:34 PM

^quit

2/15/2016 7:43:42 PM

redistribution is normal. it doesn't matter what the offer letter says.

2/16/2016 8:24:34 AM