Some organizations paying staff a fixed annual salary on a bi-weekly basis will find they have 27 pay periods in 1999. Having an extra pay period in a bi-weekly cycle occurs approximately every twelve years. Staff paid one twenty-sixth of an annual salary every two weeks could, therefore, receive an inadvertent one-time 4% bonus every twelve years.

To determine whether this condition will affect your salaried employees paid on a bi-weekly basis, take a 1999 calendar and determine how many pay periods there are in the year. If you find there are 27 and your staff salaries are quoted on an annual basis, consider dividing the annual salary by 27 in 1999, as opposed to the usual 26, to arrive at the correct annual salary.

To solve the problem permanently and avoid paying staff different amounts every twelfth year, consider establishing a policy whereby the second Friday in January of every year is set as the first pay day of the year. This will automatically correct for calendar fluctuations and will result in exactly 26 pay periods every year.