How each pay schedule works, what it means for overtime and payroll workload, and how to pick the one that fits your business.
Three dates often get confused. The pay period is the range of days a paycheck covers, such as the 1st to the 15th. The pay date is the day the money reaches the employee, which is usually a few days after the period ends so payroll can be processed. The workweek is a fixed, recurring period of seven consecutive days that you use for overtime. It can start on any day and at any hour, but once set it should stay the same.
Keeping these apart matters, because a mistake in one usually shows up in the others. A clear calendar that lists all three for the year ahead is one of the simplest ways to prevent payroll errors.
| Schedule | Paychecks per year | How it works | Often used by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 52 | Paid every week on the same weekday | Hourly-heavy teams, construction, some hospitality |
| Biweekly | 26 (27 in some years) | Paid every other week on the same weekday | Many US employers with hourly and salaried staff |
| Semimonthly | 24 | Paid twice a month on set dates, such as the 15th and the last day | Salaried teams and offices |
| Monthly | 12 | Paid once a month | Less common; restricted for hourly workers in many states |
Because a year has 52 weeks plus one or two extra days, a biweekly schedule occasionally produces 27 pay dates in a calendar year. Plan for this if you budget salaries per paycheck.
Weekly pay matches the workweek exactly, so each paycheck includes one week of regular and overtime hours. Employees like the fast access to earnings, which can matter a lot for hourly workers. The downside is workload: payroll runs 52 times a year, and every run needs approved timecards.
If you choose weekly pay, a tight approval routine is essential. Managers should review and approve hours within a day or two of the week ending. Our guide to calculating payroll hours walks through the steps.
Biweekly pay covers two full workweeks, so overtime is still easy to calculate: you look at each week separately and add them. This is a key point. You cannot average 35 hours in one week and 45 in the next and call it 80 hours with no overtime. Under federal law, the second week includes five overtime hours.
Biweekly is a common middle ground. It halves the number of payroll runs compared with weekly pay, and paychecks stay predictable for employees.
Semimonthly periods follow the calendar, such as the 1st to the 15th and the 16th to the end of the month. Each period has a different number of days and workdays, which makes salaries easy (each check is half the monthly salary) but hourly pay more complex.
The bigger challenge is overtime. A workweek will often span two semimonthly periods. You may need to wait until the workweek ends to know if overtime is due, and then pay it in the following period. Check your state’s rules on how quickly overtime must be paid, and make sure your time system can report by workweek as well as by pay period.
Monthly pay means the least payroll work but the longest wait for employees. Many states do not allow monthly pay for most hourly employees, and some limit it to exempt or executive staff. If you are thinking about monthly pay, check your state’s pay frequency law first.
The FLSA requires wages to be paid on the regular payday for the period, but it does not say how often payday must be. That is left to the states, and the rules vary widely. Some states require weekly or biweekly pay for certain workers, such as manual laborers. Others allow semimonthly pay but not monthly. A few have different rules for different industries or for exempt and non-exempt staff.
States also regulate how soon after the period ends you must pay, how final paychecks are handled and whether you must give notice before changing the schedule. Your state labor department website is the best place to confirm the current rules. If you operate in several states, it may be easier to choose one schedule that satisfies the strictest state.
Whatever schedule you choose, the quality of your time data decides the quality of each paycheck. Missing punches, late approvals and manual edits are what turn payroll day into a scramble. EZTime lets employees clock in by app, kiosk or NFC, flags missing punches, shows overtime as it builds up, and exports approved hours in a payroll-ready format. Managers can review a pay period at a glance and fix issues before the cut-off.
No. Biweekly means every two weeks, which gives 26 paychecks a year. Semimonthly means twice a month on set dates, which gives 24 paychecks.
Not the calculation. Federal overtime is calculated per workweek. The pay period only decides when overtime is paid.
In many states, no. Several states require hourly workers to be paid at least twice a month. Check your state’s pay frequency rules.
Usually yes, as long as the new schedule meets state law. Many states require advance written notice to employees.
Salaried employees whose annual salary is split into 26 checks may receive an extra check. Many employers adjust per-check amounts or plan the budget in advance.
Approved hours leave EZTime as payroll-ready Excel or PDF reports for whoever runs your payroll.