Payroll General Information

Wake County employees are paid monthly.

Payday is always the last working day of each month.

The County's pay cycle runs from the 16th of the month through the 15th of the following month. Please be aware that your time sheets will run on a slightly different cycle (FLSA cycle).

Wake County does not advance pay. The County offers direct deposit which alleviates the need for early paycheck pickup due to vacation, etc.

Direct deposit notifications are emailed generally two days before payday. Paychecks and direct deposit notifications that cannot be emailed are mailed two days before payday.

All overtime for non-exempt employees must be approved in advance by your supervisor.

Employees earn monthly leave accruals (sick & vacation) and a month of county service if they have been "in pay status" for at least half of their scheduled hours for that cycle. "In pay status" means an employee is not on any type of leave without pay. Employees earn county paid benefits such as health and dental insurance if they have been "in pay status" for at least half of their scheduled hours for that cycle or are covered under FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act).

Every September benefits eligible employees are given 8 hours (prorated for FTE) of Educational Involvement Leave (EIL). These paid leave hours can be used throughout the year for involvement in the educational process (see the Human Resources Manual for details), but only if they are matched with an employee's unused holiday leave hours or vacation leave hours. (i.e. if an employee were going to attend a two hour parent-teacher conference, then the employee would sign out one hour of EIL and one hour of unused holiday leave or vacation leave.) An employee cannot carry forward any unused EIL hours from year to year.

No more than 240 hours (for a full time employee) of vacation leave can be carried over from calendar year to calendar year. Excess annual leave over 240 hours is transferred to sick leave each January pay cycle.

All unused holiday hours will be zeroed out each June pay cycle.