(1) Except as provided otherwise in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, all state officers and employees shall be paid for services rendered from the first day of the month through the fifteenth day of the month and for services rendered from the sixteenth day of the month through the last calendar day of the month. Paydates for these two pay periods shall be established by the director of financial management through the administrative hearing process and the official paydates shall be established six months prior to the beginning of each subsequent calendar year. Under no circumstance shall the paydate be established more than ten days after the pay period in which the wages are earned except when the designated paydate falls on Sunday, in which case the paydate shall not be later than the following Monday. Payment shall be deemed to have been made by the established paydates if: (a) The salary warrant is available at the geographic work location at which the warrant is normally available to the employee; or (b) the salary has been electronically transferred into the employee's account at the employee's designated financial institution; or (c) the salary warrants are mailed at least two days before the established paydate for those employees engaged in work in remote or varying locations from the geographic location at which the payroll is prepared, provided that the employee has requested payment by mail.

     The office of financial management shall develop the necessary policies and operating procedures to assure that all remuneration for services rendered including basic salary, shift differential, standby pay, overtime, penalty pay, salary due based on contractual agreements, and special pay provisions, as provided for by law, Washington personnel resources board rules, agency policy or rule, or contract, shall be available to the employee on the designated paydate. Overtime, penalty pay, and special pay provisions may be paid by the next following paydate if the postponement of payment is attributable to: The employee's not making a timely or accurate report of the facts which are the basis for the payment, or the employer's lack of reasonable opportunity to verify the claim.

     Compensable benefits payable because of separation from state service shall be paid with the earnings for the final period worked unless the employee separating has not provided the agency with the proper notification of intent to terminate.

     One-half of the employee's basic monthly salary shall be paid in each pay period. Employees paid on an hourly basis or employees who work less than a full pay period shall be paid for actual salary earned.

     (2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply in instances where it would conflict with contractual rights or, with the approval of the office of financial management, to short-term, intermittent, noncareer state employees, to student employees of institutions of higher education, to national or state guard members participating in state active duty, and to liquor control agency managers who are paid a percentage of monthly liquor sales.

     (3) When a national or state guard member is called to participate in state active duty, the paydate shall be no more than seven days following completion of duty or the end of the pay period, whichever is first. When the seventh day falls on Sunday, the paydate shall not be later than the following Monday. This subsection shall apply only to the pay a national or state guard member receives from the military department for state active duty.

     (4) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2) of this section, a bargained contract at an institution of higher education may include a provision for paying part-time academic employees on a pay schedule that coincides with all the paydays used for full-time academic employees.

[2008 c 186 § 1; 2004 c 56 § 1; 1993 c 281 § 42; 1983 1st ex.s. c 28 § 1; 1979 c 151 § 68; 1969 c 59 § 1; 1967 ex.s. c 25 § 1; 1891 c 130 § 1; RRS § 10965.]

NOTES:

     Effective date -- 1993 c 281: See note following RCW 41.06.022.

     Application -- 1983 1st ex.s. c 28: "This act applies to pay periods beginning January 1, 1984." [1983 1st ex.s. c 28 § 8.]

     Effective date -- 1967 ex.s. c 25: "This 1967 amendatory act shall take effect July 1, 1967: PROVIDED, That the budget director may by regulation postpone the operation of the act for any reasonable time, not extending beyond the 1967-1969 biennium, to facilitate an orderly transition in state payroll procedures." [1967 ex.s. c 25 § 9.] "Budget director" redesignated "director of financial management"; see RCW 43.41.035 and 43.41.940.