Every time a new payroll opens, Freedom fills in a pay line for each person who should be paid. You review a nearly finished payroll instead of typing everyone in by hand.
A few terms
Pay schedule: how often a group of people get paid (weekly, every two weeks, twice a month, and so on). Each payroll runs for one pay schedule at a time.
Pay period: the stretch of time a paycheck covers (for example, the two weeks leading up to payday).
Primary workplace: the address where an employee works. Freedom uses it to apply the right state and local taxes. Each employee must have one active primary workplace.
When does Freedom create the payroll?
Freedom checks your pay schedules once a day, early in the morning. It creates the payroll for a pay schedule on the first day of the pay period, or five business days before payday if that's earlier, and fills in everyone who's eligible. The earlier date applies to schedules that pay before or during the pay period, such as paying on the Friday of a Monday-to-Sunday week. When your company's setup is complete, Freedom creates its payrolls right away instead of waiting for the next morning's check.
After that, Freedom checks again every morning and keeps the payroll up to date: it adds anyone who becomes eligible, takes off people who start after the pay period ends or leave before it starts, and updates primary workplaces. Until the pay period starts, it also updates pay. Freedom stops updating a payroll once you approve it or once its payday has passed. If you reopen a payroll after approving it, Freedom doesn't start updating it again.
Freedom won't create a payroll on payday itself. If a payday is today and no payroll exists yet, contact Freedom support and we'll help you pay that period. Freedom also won't create a payroll for a pay period that already has one, or for one it already created and you deleted.
To see when a payroll will open, look under Coming up on Home. A payday with no payroll yet says when it opens for review.
Do I need to assign people to a pay schedule?
Yes. Only people assigned to a pay schedule get filled in. Assign each employee and contractor to a pay schedule so they're added to payrolls automatically. See Set up and manage pay schedules.
If someone isn't on any pay schedule, Freedom has no payroll to put them on, so they won't show up automatically, even if everything else is set up correctly. If you notice someone missing, check their pay schedule assignment first.
Who gets an automatic pay line?
We fill in an employee only when everything below is true. If any one is missing, we leave them off (you can still add them by hand):
They're on the pay schedule you're running.
They're employed for the whole pay period. Their start date is on or before the first day of the pay period, and they aren't already set to leave before its last day. (We check this when Freedom adds them. See "What if someone leaves after they've been added?" below for what happens if you set a termination date later.)
They have pay set up: a salary, or an hourly rate with Workweek hours entered. Freedom uses those Workweek hours to work out the paycheck. See Set an employee's pay.
They have an active primary workplace set. See Manage workplaces.
They have direct deposit set up: a bank account on file, and a payment method that isn't set to Off-platform.
We fill in a contractor when:
They're on the pay schedule you're running, and
They're employed for the whole pay period (their start date is on or before the first day of the pay period, and they aren't already set to leave before its last day), and
They're set up for a fixed amount each pay period (the same dollar amount every time), and
They have direct deposit set up.
Note: Contractors don't need a workplace. We fill them in either way.
Who doesn't get one?
Someone is skipped whenever they don't meet one of the employee or contractor requirements above when Freedom creates the payroll, for example:
They're not assigned to the pay schedule.
They weren't employed for the whole period: they started partway through, or their termination date falls before the period ends. We don't fill in a partial paycheck. Add these people by hand if they're owed pay.
Direct deposit isn't set up yet.
Their pay setup isn't clear: no active salary or hourly rate (a per-piece rate isn't filled in), or more than one, so we can't tell which to use.
No active primary workplace (employees only).
A contractor who isn't on a fixed per-period amount, for example one you pay a different amount each time. Only fixed, same-every-time pay gets filled in automatically.
Being skipped just means it isn't done for you. You can always add the pay line yourself: open the payroll from Pay, select "Add employee" (or "Add contractor"), then "Add earning" and enter their hours. See Run payroll.
Why isn't someone showing up on the payroll?
Run through this checklist. All of these need to be true:
Are they assigned to the pay schedule you're running? See Set up and manage pay schedules.
Were they employed for the whole pay period? Someone who starts partway through, or whose termination date is before the period ends, isn't added. Add them by hand if they're owed pay.
Is their direct deposit set up?
Do they have compensation set up (a salary, or an hourly rate with regular Workweek hours)? See Set an employee's pay.
Employees: is an active primary workplace set? See Manage workplaces.
Did you already remove their line by hand? If you deleted their pay line on this payroll, Freedom won't add it back. That's on purpose, so it doesn't undo your change.
Has Freedom updated the payroll since you fixed the above? Freedom checks once a day, so a change you make today shows up tomorrow morning. Freedom stops updating a payroll once you approve it or once its payday has passed. If you reopen a payroll after approving it, Freedom doesn't start updating it again. Once Freedom has stopped, add them by hand.
If you need to add someone yourself, open the payroll from Pay and select "Add employee" or "Add contractor". If all of these check out and they're still missing, reach out to support.
Which changes are picked up automatically?
While Freedom is still updating the payroll, it handles these changes for you each morning:
People who become eligible get added. If someone qualifies after the payroll first opened, Freedom adds them the next morning. That happens when you assign them to the pay schedule after they were unassigned, they turn on their direct deposit, or you add their pay rate. (Transferring from a different pay schedule is handled differently. See "What if someone moves to a different pay schedule?" below.) Two catches: Freedom must still be updating the payroll, and you can't have already edited, added, or removed that person's line by hand (we never override something you've touched).
Pay changes made in time get picked up. This covers a change to someone's pay rate or Workweek hours, or to a contractor's fixed amount. If Freedom hasn't created the payroll yet, it uses each person's pay as it is when it creates the payroll, so any change you save before then is used. If the payroll already exists and its pay period hasn't started, Freedom picks the change up the next morning, as long as you haven't edited that pay line or approved the payroll. Save the change at least two days before the pay period starts. Once the pay period has started, change the person's pay line on the payroll yourself.
Workplace changes get picked up. If you change someone's primary workplace, the workplace on their pay line updates to match, so their taxes stay correct.
People whose dates fall outside the pay period come off. If someone's start date is after the pay period ends, or their termination date is before it starts, Freedom removes their line, unless you've edited it.
Which changes are NOT picked up automatically?
Once the pay period has started, Freedom doesn't update the pay on lines it already filled in. So these are not reflected on a payroll that's already been filled in:
A change to their pay rate or salary.
A change to their Workweek hours.
Being reassigned to a different pay schedule (see "What if someone moves to a different pay schedule?" below for what Freedom does for each payroll).
For the first two, the hours and amount stay at whatever they were when the line was last filled in.
Say the pay period has started and someone's pay line is filled in based on a 40-hour week. Later, before running payroll, you change them to a 20-hour week. The payroll you already have still shows the original 40-hour amount, and it will pay that amount unless you change the line yourself.
What if someone moves to a different pay schedule?
What happens depends on whether each payroll's pay period has started. Freedom handles the old schedule's payroll and the new schedule's payroll separately.
Old schedule's payroll, pay period not started: Freedom takes the person's pay line off when you save the move, unless you've already edited it.
Old schedule's payroll, pay period started: their pay line stays where it is. Remove it from the payroll yourself if they shouldn't be paid on it.
New schedule's payroll, pay period not started: Freedom adds them the next morning if they're eligible.
New schedule's payroll, pay period started: Freedom doesn't add them. Add them yourself with "Add employee" (or "Add contractor").
If you remove someone from a schedule without giving them a new one, the two "Old schedule's payroll" rules above apply, and Autopay won't approve a payroll that keeps their line.
Whenever Freedom leaves a payroll as it is, Autopay won't approve it, so you approve that payroll yourself (see Understand why Autopay needs attention or is blocked). Freedom doesn't cover pay that falls between the two schedules. If you need to, create an off-cycle payroll (see Create an off-cycle payroll).
Someone who wasn't on any pay schedule isn't a move. Freedom adds them to the payroll the next morning if they're eligible.
What if someone leaves after they've been added?
Freedom takes someone off a payroll only when their dates fall entirely outside the pay period, for example a termination date before the period starts or a start date after it ends. It never removes a line you've edited. If you set a termination date after their line has been filled in, they stay on the payroll when the date falls in the middle of the pay period or later. If they shouldn't be paid this run, remove their line yourself.
How do I fix a pay line that's incorrect?
Open the payroll from Pay and edit that person's pay line directly. If you delete the line instead, Freedom won't add it back, and a line you add by hand starts blank, so you enter the hours and amount yourself. When you change someone's pay, we also remind you to check any payrolls you haven't run yet.
Note: Anything you've already edited or added by hand stays exactly as you left it.
How are the hours calculated?
For salaried and hourly employees, the hours on each paycheck are their normal Workweek hours multiplied by how many weeks the paycheck covers. So for someone with a 40-hour week:
Paid every week: 40 hours per paycheck
Paid every 2 weeks: 80 hours per paycheck
Paid twice a month: 86.67 hours per paycheck
Paid once a month: 173.33 hours per paycheck
Paid once a quarter: 520 hours per paycheck
Paid once a year: 2,080 hours per paycheck
Twice-a-month and monthly aren't exactly two or four weeks, so the hours come out to an in-between number. That's expected.
Hourly employees start with these same standard hours. Change them to the hours actually worked before you approve the payroll.
Each pay line is one earning for the period. Freedom doesn't add bonuses, reimbursements, or any other recurring earnings. Benefit and post-tax deductions apply when the payroll is calculated.
Note: Contractors don't use hours at all. They're filled in with their fixed per-period amount, taken straight from how you set up their pay.
If someone's hours don't look right, their Workweek hours in their compensation info were probably changed after the pay period started.