Weekly pay means employees are paid once a week, 52 times in most years. It is popular with hourly workers, required for some of them, and doubles the number of payroll runs.
Each pay period is one workweek, often Sunday to Saturday or Monday to Sunday. Because federal overtime is counted per workweek, weekly pay is the simplest frequency for overtime: each check covers exactly one overtime calculation. With biweekly pay, the two weeks have to be calculated separately even though they are paid together.
To total hours with breaks and overtime, use our time card calculator.
Weekly pay suits teams where people live paycheck to paycheck, seasonal or temporary work, and trades where short-term workers come and go. It is less common for salaried staff.
New York’s Department of Labor says manual workers must be paid weekly and not later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages are earned. It treats employees who spend more than 25% of their working time on physical labor as manual workers, which covers many cooks, warehouse workers, cleaners and construction workers, not just factory jobs.
Large employers can apply to the state for permission to pay manual workers less often; one condition is an average of 1,000 employees in New York over the previous three years. Other states set their own minimum frequencies; the US Department of Labor keeps a table of state payday requirements. Check the rule in each state where you have people before choosing.
| Weekly | Biweekly | |
|---|---|---|
| Hours per check (40 a week) | 40 | 80 |
| Gross pay per check | $720 | $1,440 |
| Paydays per year (most years) | 52 | 26 |
| Payroll runs for the employer | 52 | 26 |
| Overtime calculation per check | 1 workweek | 2 separate workweeks |
If the cook works 46 hours in week one and 34 in week two, the biweekly check still owes 6 hours of overtime for week one, even though the two-week total is 80 hours. With weekly pay, the overtime shows up on the week-one check and there is nothing to average away.
A 53-payday year happens when the year has 53 of your payday weekday. In 2026 there are 53 Thursdays, and in 2027 there are 53 Fridays. For hourly employees it changes little, because each check pays the hours of one week, but for salaried weekly staff it needs a decision.
A company pays a $52,000 salary weekly on Fridays, normally $1,000 a check. In 2027 there are 53 Fridays.
If it keeps paying $1,000, the employee receives $53,000 that calendar year. If it divides the salary by 53, each check is about $981.13. The company chooses to keep the $1,000 check, because it is simpler and employees expect it, and it budgets for the extra payday a year ahead.
For employees, weekly pay means smaller, more frequent checks, which can help with budgeting. For employers, it means twice as many payroll runs. Where state law requires weekly pay for certain workers, the choice is made for you.
52 in most years and 53 in some, depending on which weekday payday falls on and the calendar.
It depends on the state. New York requires weekly pay for most manual workers. Check the DOL table of state payday requirements or your state labor department.
Multiply the hourly rate by hours worked in the week, then add overtime at one and a half times the regular rate for hours over 40. The gross pay calculator does this for you.
A year is 52 weeks and one or two days, so the weekday of your payday occurs 53 times in some years.
It doubles the number of payroll runs compared with biweekly, which can add provider fees and staff time. The wages themselves are the same.
Approved hours, breaks and missed-punch corrections come together in signed reports, ready to export to PDF or Excel.