If you’ve been trapped in your workplace unable to leave, eating Doritos from the vending machine for dinner and sleeping under your desk, should you be paid for that time?

Before you start planning how you’ll spend that “free” paycheck before your finance department re-balances the budget for 2026 you need to know that your payroll provider is probably smart enough to anticipate this. There are two methods that payroll providers use to solve the 27-paycheck problem: Pro rata and pay as usual.