§36-6-1. "Employee" defined; time of payment of salaries generally.

(a) For the purpose of this section the word "employee" shall be defined as:

(1) Everyone in the classified, exempt, or unclassified service of the state as defined in Section 36-26-10,

(2) Legislative personnel, officers and employees, Legislative Reference Service personnel, and Legislative Fiscal Office personnel,

(3) All court officials and employees of the Unified Judicial System serving the trial courts,

(4) Employees of the Administrative Office of Courts paid on a biweekly basis, and

(5) All hourly personnel who are considered to be permanent employees.

(b) Every state employee whether subject to the state Merit System or not shall be paid biweekly two weeks in arrears through March 17, 2006, and beginning April 3, 2006, shall be paid semi-monthly one payday in arrears, except that elected officials and appointees whose pay is based on an annual salary for the position held shall be payable in equal semi-monthly installments on the fifteenth and the last day of each month. The payday which normally falls on Friday, September 30, 2005, shall be moved to Saturday, October 1, 2005. Subsequent paydays will resume the previously established schedule of being paid every other Friday. This change will have no impact on salaries of those paid in equal semi-monthly installments. Unpaid salaries shall be paid upon the expiration of the appointment or term of office.

(c) Beginning April 3, 2006, all employees shall be paid semi-monthly one payday in arrears. Salary payments made on March 17, 2006, shall be the last salary payments made using a biweekly pay plan. The Director of the State Personnel Department shall revise the pay plan for all classified and unclassified employees by multiplying the biweekly salary for each classified and unclassified employee by 26 and dividing by 24. Salary payments based on the semi-monthly plan shall be made on the first and sixteenth day of each month, except that if the first day of October falls on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a holiday, then the salary payment shall be made on the next succeeding workday. If the first or sixteenth day of any month, other than the first day of October, falls on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a holiday, then the salary payment shall be made on the last workday immediately prior to the Saturday, the Sunday, or the holiday. The Finance Director shall have the authority to adjust any payday to ensure that each fiscal year has 24 pay periods except for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, which shall be the transition year. For purposes of converting from a biweekly to a semi-monthly pay plan, the payday that would be made on Friday, March 31, 2006, using the biweekly pay plan shall be made on Monday, April 3, 2006, using the semi-monthly pay plan.

It is the intent of the Legislature that the conversion from a biweekly pay plan to a semi-monthly pay plan shall not reduce any employee's annual rate of compensation.

(d) The state Comptroller and the State Personnel Department will revise procedures to implement changes included in this section, and the State Personnel Department shall revise its regulations regarding accrual of sick leave by state employees to convert the accrual from biweekly pay periods to semi-monthly pay periods effective on the same date that accrual of annual leave is converted as provided in Section 36-26-35. The annual accumulation of sick leave shall remain the same using semi-monthly accrual as it was using biweekly accrual.

(Code 1852, §169; Code 1867, §210; Code 1876, §223; Code 1886, §318; Code 1896, §3153; Code 1907, §1569; Code 1923, §2713; Acts 1939, No. 490, p. 709, §1; Code 1940, T. 41, §148; Acts 1969, No. 799, p. 1440, §1; Acts 1983, No. 83-509, p. 717, §1; Act 2004-624, p. 1417, §1; Act 2005-316, 1st Sp. Sess., p. 766, §1.)