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John Hollenhorst ReportingIf you're a salaried employee and your payday was last Thursday or Friday, listen up; we have some good news for you. There may be extra money in your future.
You know how in the game of Monopoly you can get a card reading: "Bank Error In Your Favor"? It never happens in real life, right? But now, the next best thing. A quirk in this year's calendar could mean extra money in your bank account.
In the case of Jenny Boehm, and millions of other people, it's really going to happen. She works for a salary. She's paid every two weeks, every other Friday.
But take a look at this year's calendar. They squeezed in an extra Friday. There are 53 of them this year, starting with Friday, January 2nd, ending Friday, December 31st. Jenny's boss has to meet a payroll on 27 Fridays this year, not the usual 26.
Mike Olsen, Co-owner, Robyn Todd Stores: "It really comes as a surprise. It wasn't anything I was paying attention to."
Payroll expert Lee Archer says many bosses are in the same boat. They haven't planned ahead for that extra paycheck.
Lee Archer, Associated Payroll Systems: "If you have a payroll that runs maybe 100,000 dollars every two weeks, it will be a major rude awakening for most employers."
Here's an example. Suppose your annual salary is 52,000 dollars. Normally, you get 26 paychecks, $2,000 each. But if you get 27 paychecks this year, that's $54,000.
Lee Archer, Associated Payroll Systems: "Your pay basically went up almost four percent – 3.85%."
It seems crazy, but it's happening because the year doesn't divide neatly into weeks. 52 weeks times seven days equals 364. But the year has 365, one extra day. Two extra, 366, in leap years.
Those extra days get shuffled off to next year, year after year until suddenly, about every dozen years, someone has to pay the piper.
Now, there is a catch. There's always a catch, isn’t there? Employers who want to avoid going over budget can simply reduce the size of your 27 paychecks by 3 or 4 percent all year long. But we're told that very few bosses are doing this. It's complicated and it tends to convert a happy employee into a grumpy one.
