Running a semi-monthly payroll for non-exempt employees can be challenging. It gets complicated because employers are required to track the actual number of hours worked each workweek (seven days) and pay overtime if more than 40 hours are worked in that workweek.
A common mistake is to assume 86.67 hours each pay period (or some other identical amount every pay period), however employers are required to track (and pay for) all hours actually worked (including overtime) each workweek, not an “average”. Unfortunately, there are not exactly the same number of workweeks in each month nor are there exactly the same number of days and hours in each semi-monthly pay period.
