CalTime Biweekly Pay Cycle Conversion
Frequently Asked Questions
1
Last updated 1/30/2015
Introduction
This Payroll Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document includes answers to questions related to the impact
of the Biweekly Pay transition on your pay (including paycheck, pay period, pay rate, benefit and retirement
deductions, tax withholdings, etc.).
Here’s where to find additional information:
For Accruals Frequently Asked Questions, go to the Central Payroll website’s
http://controller.berkeley.edu/biweekly-pay-conversion webpage.
For up‐to-date Biweekly Pay Payroll information, visit Central Payroll website’s dedicated webpage at
http://controller.berkeley.edu/biweekly-pay-conversion.
For general CalTime and Biweekly Pay information, including FAQs, training on how to report and approve
time, and much more visit the CalTime website at http://caltime.berkeley.edu.
Who is transitioning to Biweekly Pay?
Only employees whose job is defined as non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will convert to
Biweekly Pay. Employees whose job titles are exempt will continue to be paid monthly.
FLSA regulations require non-exempt employees to track their hours worked, so they can be paid overtime for
work in excess of 40 hours per week. To ensure that the university meets these regulations, non-exempt
employees report their actual time worked each day.
Exempt employees receive a predetermined salary each pay period, regardless of the amount of time worked,
and are not eligible for overtime. Exempt employees are required to report only nonproductive time, such as
vacation or sick time.
CalTime Questions
If you have additional questions about CalTime, please reach out to your supervisor. If your supervisor is not
able to assist you, or you have more complex technical system questions, please email caltime@berkeley.edu.
CalTime Biweekly Pay Cycle Conversion
Frequently Asked Questions
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Last updated 1/30/2015
Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Status
1. What do “non-exempt” and “exempt” mean?
2. How can I find out if I am a non-exempt or an exempt employee?
How will this change impact me?
3. What are the biweekly paydays?
4. How much money I will get paid with each biweekly paycheck?
5. How can I calculate my hourly rate from my previous monthly or annual salary?
6. How many biweekly paychecks will I get?
7. Is being paid biweekly the same as being paid semi-monthly?
8. I’m currently paid on the first of the month. What will my new payday be?
9. I’m now being paid semi-monthly (on the 8
th
and the 23
rd
). Will I convert to the Biweekly Pay schedule?
10. Do I need to make changes to my direct deposit as a result of transitioning to Biweekly Pay?
11. What if I pay some of my bills through automatic bill pay?
Benefits and deduction inquiries
12. I have been paying my benefits once a month. Will this change with Biweekly Pay?
13. I learned that even though my first biweekly check (Nov. 19) will only include 1 one week of earnings, UC
Berkeley is taking half of my monthly benefits deductions from that paycheck. Why?
14. What is a Benefit Deduction Holiday?
15. When is my retirement deduction taken?
16. I contribute to my 403(b) and 457(b) plans. When will my contributions be taken?
17. Will I need to make any changes to my taxes or withholdings?
18. How does the change in pay frequency affect my Federal and State income taxes?
Miscellaneous
19. Will employees in academic job titles (positions) transition to biweekly pay?
20. I have a garnishment deduction. How will the transition to biweekly pay affect the amount deducted for
my garnishment?
21. Prior to November 1, 2014 pay was based on 12 calendar months. How will my earnings be affected now
that we have switched from monthly paychecks to biweekly paychecks?
22. Is my pay based on 2088 or 2080 hours worked per year?
CalTime Biweekly Pay Cycle Conversion
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Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Status
1. What do “non-exempt” and “exempt” mean?
Non-exempt employees are eligible for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and
record their actual time worked.
Exempt employees are not eligible for overtime.
2. How can I find out if I am a non-exempt or an exempt employee?
If you are unsure of your exemption status, you can do the following to find out:
Login into http://blu.berkeley.edu with your CalNet ID, and the top left corner of the webpage will
display “non-exempt” or “exempt.”
If you know your title code, you can go to
https://tcs.ucop.edu/tcs/jsp/nonAcademicTitlesSearch.htm.
If you don’t have online access or are still unsure, please check with your supervisor.
How will this change impact me?
3. What are the biweekly paydays?
Non-exempt employees will receive their earnings every other Wednesday. Please refer to the Biweekly
Payroll Calendar available in the CalTime website at http://caltime.berkeley.edu for a complete list of
the pay dates for 2014.
4. How much money will I get paid with each biweekly paycheck?
Yes. You can use the Biweekly Pay Calculator located on the Central Payroll website at
http://controller.berkeley.edu/payroll to find out. (You will need to enter various numbers from your
pay stub into the calculator.)
5. How can I calculate my hourly rate?
You can calculate your hourly rate (based on a 40-hour workweek) as follows:
Take your former monthly salary and divide by 174. (The number 174 is the UC standard of
estimating the number of working hours in month). For example, if your monthly salary was $3250
per month: $3250/174 = $18.68.
6. How many biweekly paychecks will I get?
You will receive a minimum of 26 and a maximum of 27 paychecks in a year.
Because biweekly periods don’t always line up exactly to the calendar year, there is often a biweekly pay
period that crosses over from December to January. Because of this, the gross pay reported on an annual
W-2 tax form may not match exactly to your annualized pay (hourly rate x 2088 hours), and occasionally
there will be 27 periods in one year.
CalTime Biweekly Pay Cycle Conversion
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7. Is being paid biweekly the same as being paid semi-‐‐monthly?
It is not. People who are paid on the biweekly schedule will get a paycheck every other Wednesday, for
two weeks of work. (Some months they will receive three paychecks.) Being paid semi-monthly means
receiving a paycheck twice a month, no matter how many weeks there are in a month.
Please refer to the Biweekly Payroll Calendar available in the CalTime website at
http://caltime.berkeley.edu for a complete list of the pay dates for 2014.
8. I’m currently paid on the first of the month. What will my new payday be?
If you are exempt, you will continue to be paid on the first of the month. If you are non-exempt you will
receive your earnings every other Wednesday.
9. I’m now being paid semi-‐‐monthly (on the 8th and the 23rd). Will I convert to the Biweekly Pay
schedule?
You will only convert to the biweekly pay cycle if your job is defined as non-exempt under the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA).
10. Do I need to make changes to my direct deposit as a result of transitioning to Biweekly Pay?
No. If you have set your pay earnings to be delivered through direct deposit, you will automatically
continue to receive them via direct deposit.
11. What if I pay some of my bills through automatic bill pay?
If you transitioned to Biweekly Pay and have automatic bill pay set up for any regular expenses, such as
mortgage payments, student loan payments or car payments; we encourage you to work directly with
your financial institution(s) to change payment dates as needed.
Benefits and Deduction Questions
12. I have been paying my benefits once a month. Will this change with Biweekly Pay?
Yes. Payroll deductions will be split across the biweekly paychecks. Deductions are either fixed amounts
(e.g. $25) or a percentage of earnings (e.g. 2%). Fixed deductions are divided and deducted twice
monthly. Percentage based deductions are deducted every check.
For months with three pay periods, one paycheck will have no fixed flat dollar deductions taken (e.g.,
transit and parking deductions, credit union deductions, 403(b) loan payments, etc.). These paydays,
referred to as “Benefit Deduction Holidays,” will occur twice a year. They will be conveyed on the
Biweekly Payroll Calendar available in the CalTime website at http://caltime.berkeley.edu.
CalTime Biweekly Pay Cycle Conversion
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13. I learned that even though my first biweekly check (Nov. 19) will only include 1 one week of earnings,
UC Berkeley is taking half of my monthly benefits deductions from that paycheck. Why?
UC system-wide policy dictates that benefits deductions must be taken in advance. Therefore, prior to
November 1
st
, all benefits deductions for the following month have been taken out from each monthly
paycheck. As we move to biweekly pay cycles, deductions will be split across biweekly paychecks.
Keep in mind that although the Nov. 19 paycheck is smaller than a typical paycheck since it will only
reflect one workweek and half of December’s benefits deductions, it also arrives sooner than usual.
14. What is a Benefit Deduction Holiday?
A Benefit Deduction Holiday is the payday following a month that has three biweekly pay period end
dates within the month. This paycheck will have no fixed benefits/deductions taken; only percentage-
based deductions will be taken.
15. When is my retirement deduction taken?
Your UC mandatory retirement contributions, UCRP and DCP-CAS, are taken each biweekly payday.
16. I contribute to my 403(b) and/or 457(b) plans. When will my contributions be taken?
If you set up your contributions as a percentage deduction, the percentage amount will be taken each
payday. For example, if your current 403(b) contribution is set at 5% per month, a 5 % contribution will
be made each biweekly payday. If your contribution is setup as a flat amount, it will be deducted from
24 checks out of your 26 biweekly checks in the year. (It will not be deducted on the two Benefit
Deduction Holidays in the year.)
17. Will I need to make any changes to my taxes or withholdings?
If you have an additional tax amount deducted from your paycheck, that monthly amount will be split in
half, and 50% will be withheld from each biweekly check. If you do not want the current additional
amount to be split in this manner, please go to the At Your Service website and review and/or update
your W-4/DE-4 Form.
18. How does the change in pay frequency affect my Federal and State income taxes?
Your income will continue to have taxes withheld according to the Federal W-4 and State DE-4 forms you
currently have on file. Your earnings will have taxes withheld based on the biweekly tax schedules set by
the Internal Revenue Service and the Franchise Tax Board. You can review the current tax schedules
online at http://controller.berkeley.edu/income-tax-withholding-information.
CalTime Biweekly Pay Cycle Conversion
Frequently Asked Questions
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Miscellaneous
19. Will employees in academic job titles (positions) transition to Biweekly Pay?
No. Academic employees will be paid on a monthly pay cycle and receive pay on the 1
st
of the calendar
month.
20. I have a garnishment deduction. How will the transition to biweekly pay affect the amount deducted
for my garnishment?
If the garnishment deduction is calculated as a percentage of your earnings, a deduction will occur each
pay period, up to the maximum deduction allowed based on federal and state regulations. If your
garnishment deduction is a fixed flat dollar amount, the current monthly amount will be converted to a
biweekly amount. The following equation will be used to calculate the biweekly amount: monthly
deduction x 12 (months in year) divided by 26 (paychecks in a year).
• Percentage of earnings example: if your garnishment deduction is 25%, that percentage will be
deducted from every paycheck.
• Fixed amount example: a monthly deduction of $250.00 equals $115.38 when deducted from each
biweekly paycheck ($250 x 12/26= $115.38).
21. Prior to November 1, 2014 pay was based on 12 calendar months. How will my earnings be affected now
that we have switched from monthly paychecks to biweekly paychecks?
When you were paid monthly, pay was consistent every month, regardless of how many hours or days were
worked in each month. Twelve months always equaled one year.
With biweekly pay cycles, it is hours worked that matter. Pay is no longer measured on a calendar month.
Your new pay is based on 80 hours of work. This two-week pay cycle does not exactly align with months or
calendar years. There are 52.14 weeks in a year, which typically translates into 26 pay checks but occasionally
there will be 27 paychecks, which means that your annual pay will fluctuate over time.
22. Is my pay based on 2088 or 2080 hours worked per year?
The number 2088 is used throughout the UC system to represent the number of work hours in a typical year.
2088 and 2080 are both estimates of work hours in a year using different methodologies, depending on if the
calculation starts with the hourly or the monthly rate.
Based on the monthly rate, UC estimated the total annual work hours as 174(hours per month)* 12(total
numbers of months) = 2088. Many organizations use the estimate of 52 weeks * 40 hours = 2080 to estimate
the number of work hours in a year. These are both estimates since they do not align with a calendar year.
It is important to note that biweekly periods do not divide evenly into one year – there are about 52.14 weeks
in a year. Because of this, 26 biweekly paychecks are not the same as one year’s salary, and occasionally there
will be 27 pay dates in one year. This means that the pay in one calendar year may represent 2080 hours
worked, or occasionally 2160 hours worked. UC uses 2088 to represent the estimated number of work hours
in a typical year. Employees will be paid for every hour worked.
