When you update an employee's compensation, the new rate becomes their default pay going forward. Freedom uses it to fill in their pay line when it creates a payroll.

Note: Saving a change creates a new rate and retires the previous one, so the employee always has a single current default rate. If you change the Compensation type, Amount, or Workweek hours, Freedom also shows a "Check outstanding payrolls" warning to remind you about payrolls you haven't run yet. For full details, see Set an employee's pay.

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.

To check, open the payroll from Pay and look at its pay period dates. To change a pay line, open the payroll and edit the person's pay line. This changes only that payroll and doesn't affect the saved default.

A contractor's fixed amount follows the same rule. If you remove an employee's rate or change its Compensation type to Per piece, Freedom stops filling in their pay line, and a pay line already on a payroll stays as it is.

Always check each employee's pay line on the payroll before you approve. That's the reliable way to catch a payroll that was created with an outdated rate.

Related: Deleting a payroll doesn't refill it, because Freedom doesn't create another for a pay period it already created (see Delete a draft payroll). For everything Freedom fills in and updates, see What auto-fills on your payroll.