How to process construction payroll weekly

What does the week look like from timesheet cutoff to payday?

It runs in seven steps over about a week: the workweek ends, the draft sheet is generated, exceptions are cleared, requests are answered, a manager approves, the file goes to your payroll provider and payday arrives. The calendar below is one example. Yours is set by your payday and by how much lead time your provider needs.

If any step slips, payday does not move. A late approval comes out of the buffer, which is why the last two lines before payday should always have room in them.

How do you set your own cutoff dates?

Start at payday and subtract each step's time, longest and least flexible step first. Your provider's submission deadline is fixed and everything before it is yours to arrange, so ask the provider for it in hours, not days.

1. 1

   Write down payday and the provider's deadline

   The latest hour the provider will accept an approved file and still pay on payday. This is the one number you cannot negotiate.

2. 2

   Subtract the export and tie-out

   Allow time to send the file, read the provider's preview and fix a mapping error. A first-time import takes longer than the fifth.

3. 3

   Subtract the approval

   Name an approver and a backup. A week that waits for one person's vacation is a missed payday.

4. 4

   Subtract the exception review

   Foremen clear their own crews first, then the office. The earlier in the week they start, the shorter this step.

5. 5

   Pick a buffer and defend it

   Half a day between approval and the provider's deadline is the difference between a late file and a calm one.

Moving payday is rarely the answer. Moving the foremen's cleanup from Monday to a few minutes each day is. See the foreman's weekly timesheet checklist.

What is the workweek, and does it have to match the pay period?

The workweek is a fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods, and it does not have to match the calendar week or your pay period (29 CFR 778.105). It may begin on any day and hour. Once set it stays fixed, and it can be changed only if the change is meant to be permanent and not designed to avoid overtime.

The pay period can be longer than the workweek, which is where mistakes creep in. Overtime is still counted one workweek at a time, and the rule on timing is that overtime earned in a workweek must be paid on the regular payday for the period in which that workweek ends (29 CFR 778.106).

Which exceptions should stop a week from closing?

Anything that changes what a worker is paid should stop the week. Anything that only changes a report can wait until after payday. Sorting exceptions this way keeps a missing note from holding up a payday and keeps a missing rate from slipping through.

What should the approver check before approving?

The approver should check that the headcount is right, the total is close to last week's and every difference has a reason. One manager's signature is the control, and the check below is what makes the signature mean something.

• Every active worker who worked has a record, and nobody is on the list who did not work.
• Total hours are compared with last week's, and any large change is explained.
• Overtime hours are reviewed, by worker and by the day they fell.
• New hires and changed rates are entered. No row is exported without one.
• Corrections made this week each show an author and a reason.
• Time off is recorded for workers who were out.

The mechanics of the weekly approval, including who sees the exceptions list, are on timesheet approval workflow.

How do approved hours get to the payroll provider, and how do you check them?

Approved hours reach the provider through a file export or an integration, and you check them by comparing the provider's total hours with the approved total before payday. The export is the easy half. The tie-out is the half that catches a mapping mistake.

• Map once. Match each worker and each job code to the provider's own IDs the first time. A mismatch shows up as a worker with zero hours.
• Skip the note line. A ZeroBadge file starts with one line about how hours were recorded, above the headers. Tell the import to skip one line. See export timesheets to payroll.
• Read the preview. Before the provider runs anything, compare its hours total with your approved total. They should match to the minute.
• Keep the file. Store the exact export and the weekly PDF with the week's records.

An integration removes the upload, not the check. See construction payroll integration. ZeroBadge integrates with payroll providers and exports CSV, Excel or PDF. It does not run payroll, and the provider's calculation of wages and taxes is still yours to review.

What if you find an error after you have exported?

Correct it in the record with a reason, put the pay difference in the next payroll run at the latest, and do not edit what has already been paid. Federal rules allow overtime to be paid after the regular payday only when the correct amount cannot be determined until later, and then as soon as practicable and never past the next payday after it can be computed (29 CFR 778.106).

1. 1

   Fix the record, not the history

   The correction replaces the figure going forward and keeps the original. A reviewer should be able to see both.

2. 2

   Decide whether pay changed

   A recode of a job changes costing only. A changed end time changes pay.

3. 3

   Put the pay difference in the next run

   If the worker was underpaid, do not wait for the following period. State rules on correcting a short paycheck can be stricter, so check yours.

4. 4

   Keep the new version

   A corrected week produces a new weekly PDF. The earlier one stays.

5. 5

   Look for the cause

   If the same error repeats, the fix belongs in the foreman checklist or the import, not in another correction.

What records should the weekly process leave behind?

Each week should leave the approved timesheet, the export, the provider's tie-out, the exceptions log and the correction trail. Federal rules require payroll records for at least three years and basic time cards for two (29 CFR 516.5 and 516.6), and state rules and contracts can be longer. The full table is in how to switch from paper timesheets.

• The approved weekly timesheet as an unchangeable PDF version.
• The exact file sent to the payroll provider.
• The tie-out: the provider's hours next to the approved total.
• The exceptions list with the reason for each clearance.
• Every correction, with its author, reason and the figure it replaced.

Public works jobs add a weekly certified payroll report on top of this. See certified payroll explained.

How ZeroBadge handles this

ZeroBadge generates the Saturday to Friday week for every worker without anyone typing a line, shows an exceptions list of missing clock-outs, late starts, early finishes and time outside approved sites, and keeps every correction with its reason. A manager approves the week, then approved hours go to your payroll provider and the weekly PDF is kept as an unchangeable version. ZeroBadge does not run payroll or decide pay rules. See timesheet approval.