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danbelshan 
Group: Members
Posts: 263
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2010,10:04 am |
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Will you get an extra paycheck this year?
January 12th, 2009, 3:41 pm · posted by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Businesses that pay wages every two weeks typically have 26 payrolls a year.
But every 11th year, they pay 27 payrolls, says the Economic Research Institute. And 2009 is one of those years.
This anomaly comes at a bad time for those firms struggling with the recession, notes ERI, a research firm that conducts geographic and industry-specific salary surveys and cost of living and executive compensation benchmarks.
The extra payroll equals a 3.85% increase in wage expenses, ERI says.
http://jan.freedomblogging.com/2009...442
Freeborn County salaried staff will get a bonus in 2010 unless we correct it. In December we moved to have 27 pay periods in 2010 rather than the usual 26. The County pays every two weeks. The pay check amount in a normal year (26 pay periods) is determined by dividing a person's salary by 26.
Because of the calendar there 27 paychecks every eleven years which the salaries then must be divided by 27 to pay the employee . Hourly are not affected, only salaried.
I thought we corrected that with my motion in December but I was wrong. It is now discovered the 2010 salaries are divided by 26 pay checks like 2009. This will result in an extra two weeks of pay for all salaried County staff because they will receive 27 pay checks. We corrected only elected officials salaries by my motion in December.
We voted last year for a 0% increase for 2010 however the way payroll is now setup all salaried staff will get a 3.85% bonus.
I'm told the total payroll for salaried staff is $3,954,796.00
If not corrected this will cost Freeborn County taxpayers $152,259.64.
I will be bringing this up again. So far staff has not seen it my way.
I'm being told this is happening now and in the past with many county boards and taxpayers unaware of this hidden pay bonus.
This wasteful practice must be stopped.
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| Post Number: 2
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hairhertz
Group: Members
Posts: 3489
Joined: Dec. 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2010,11:10 am |
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Now that is a great example of representing the best interests of the taxpayer! Thanks, Dan.
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metis movement
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| Post Number: 3
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Botto 82
Group: Members
Posts: 6293
Joined: Jan. 2005
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2010,11:14 am |
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My wages have remained more or less stagnant for the last two years. So have a lot of other peoples' wages. Why do government employees think they need pay increases at a time when the rest of us have to learn to do more with less?
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Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.
- Kurt Vonnegut
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gljoefan
Group: Members
Posts: 275
Joined: Jun. 2008
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2010,2:20 pm |
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(hairhertz @ Jan. 22 2010,11:10 am)
QUOTE Now that is a great example of representing the best interests of the taxpayer! Thanks, Dan.
Or it could be a lack of employment contracts.
This would only apply to salaried people, hourly people are going to expect to be paid the "extra" check, as they should.
There are two ways in which annual salaries are generally expressed. Using an example of someone making $52,000 per year. It would be expressed as bi-weekly payment of $2,000 or bi-monthly payments of $2166. The first way, much like the hourly person, would require the "extra check". The other would not. The logic is you work two weeks you get paid $2000. The other says you are paid $2166 twice per month no matter what.
I don't know if the county is exempt from the laws that apply to private business relative to overtime or not. If the don't they should consult with an employment attorney before making any decisions.
Why? If you have a salaried non-exempt employee, they may have to pay them the $2000 bi-monthly. You work 80 hours you get paid $2000. Paying them $1925 27 times may well be considered a violation of state and federal employment laws.
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| Post Number: 5
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busybee
Group: Members
Posts: 2510
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2010,7:03 pm |
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Salary is salary. Hourly is hourly.
Seems clear enough to me.
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| Post Number: 6
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danbelshan
Group: Members
Posts: 263
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2010,7:05 pm |
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2009 Pay Period "Leap Year" - How Will You Deal with an Extra Pay Period?
Every so often, the calendar causes us to have to watch what we are doing. This year, 2009, some employers will have to deal with an extra pay period, if they pay on a bi-weekly basis. How does this happen? If you pay every other Thursday, you will have 27 periods in 2009. Or, if you pay on Fridays and you pay the day before a holiday you will also end up with 27 pay periods, because Christmas falls on a Friday.
So if you started counting and figured out that you will be paying salaried employees over 27 pay periods in 2009, you probably realized that, if you do nothing different, you will be paying them more in 2009 than you might have intended. So what do you do?
The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB) has some suggestions:
Option 1: Divide the total salary among the 27 pay periods rather than 26. This will result in smaller amounts in each paycheck. if you want to do this, be sure to inform your employees, so they don't complain.
Option 2: Pay the same amount in each pay period as you did in 2008. This will result in an effective increase in pay for these employees. If you do this, inform employees, so you can take credit for the increase.
Option 3: Adjust the last paycheck of the year so that the total pay for the year is the same as the prior year.
In any of these circumstances, you will need to inform employees what you are doing.
http://biztaxlaw.about.com/b...iod.htm
As you can see there are many ways to deal with this.
The county board set a 0% wage increase for 2010.
This means salaried employees receive the same gross salary as 2009.
The number of pay periods does not determine the yearly salary.
If it did , would paying twice a month like some counties do (24 pay periods) lower people's salary?
Of course not.
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Go to danbelshan.com for my newsletters.
Go to Dan Belshan on facebook to get the latest.
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| Post Number: 7
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busybee
Group: Members
Posts: 2510
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 22 2010,8:20 pm |
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Like I stated, salary is salary. Salary is a YEAR's income, or 12 months, 365 days in a year.
Is there 372 days in a year every 11 years?
Contract salaries have a BASE PAY for 12 months and unless there is additional pay noted in a salary contract for ADDITIONAL SERVICES, salary is NOT ever about the hourly weeks payable in a year's time.
That's my opinion.
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| Post Number: 8
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alcitizens
Albert Lea
Group: Members
Posts: 3664
Joined: Jul. 2009
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Posted on: Jan. 23 2010,12:47 am |
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May be 27 checks last year but will only be 25 checks this year.
It will always average out to 26 paychecks per year..
No bonus pay involved..
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| Post Number: 9
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Pretzel Logic
Group: Members
Posts: 392
Joined: Oct. 2005
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Posted on: Jan. 23 2010,11:16 am |
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Thanks Dan for being the voice of sanity up there. I phrased a question before to one of the commisioners before as to how we had a 1.2% increase to the county budget for the new hires at the jail for the ICE contract. Suprisingly I got no response. How did this happen when this was supposed to be a windfall for the county. Did I miss something?
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I stepped up on the platform
The Man gave me the news
He said you must be jokin' son
Where did you get those shoes?
Wally & Don
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| Post Number: 10
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