Guides
How pay actually works, explained with real numbers: what a salary is worth by the hour, what comes out of a paycheck, and the rules behind overtime and pay periods.
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Inclement weather pay: do you get paid when work closes?
There is no federal inclement weather pay: if a hurricane, blizzard or ice storm closes your workplace, hourly workers are owed pay only for the hours they actually work, so a closed day is usually unpaid. Exempt salaried employees keep their full salary when the employer closes for part of a week, though the employer can make them use paid leave. A handful of states add show-up pay for hourly workers sent home, and whether the weather excuses the employer depends on the state.
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Biweekly vs semimonthly pay: 26 checks or 24, and what bimonthly really means
Biweekly pay comes every two weeks, 26 times in most years and 27 in a few. Semimonthly pay, which people often call bimonthly, comes twice a month on fixed dates, exactly 24 times a year. On a $60,000 salary that's $2,307.69 per biweekly check versus $2,500.00 per semimonthly check, with the same annual total.
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Salary vs hourly: which pays more once you do the math
Salary vs hourly comes down to real hours and overtime status. A $60,000 salary is $28.85 an hour at 40 hours a week but only $23.08 at 50, and if the job is exempt those extra hours are unpaid. Hourly usually wins when the work runs long; salary wins when hours are steady and paid leave is generous.
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Gross vs net pay: what each means, with a full 2026 paycheck
Gross pay is everything you earn before taxes and deductions; net pay is what reaches your bank account after them. On a $25-an-hour, 80-hour biweekly paycheck in Illinois with a 5% 401(k), $2,000.00 gross turns into $1,514.37 net in 2026. Offers, raises and overtime are quoted in gross, but your budget runs on net.
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How many work hours are in 2026? 2,088 on the calendar, 2,080 on payroll
2026 has 2,088 work hours on the calendar: 261 weekdays at 8 hours each. After the 11 federal holidays you work 250 days, or 2,000 hours, while payroll still divides salaries by the standard 2,080. The year itself has 8,760 hours.