Do we not get paid this month? This was the content of a text I got from a fellow PhD student yesterday. He was hired in the fall semester so he was not familiar with the pay schedules.

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Many of my fellow students do not understand how our pay system works. They mistakenly believe we get paid on the first of the month. We actually get paid on the first business day of the month. Most months the first also happens to be a business day so everything works out. In this case the first of the month happened to be Sunday so that meant we would not get paid.

img from soulculture.co.uk

The second of the month is technically a holiday so we are not getting paid either. We will actually get paid on Tuesday 3rd January 2017 because that is the first business day for the month.

In 2016 we got paid on the 4th of January because the 1st was a Friday (but it was New Year’s Day). The 2nd and 3rd were the weekend, so they were not a business day, and the paychecks hit on the 4th.

I let my friend know that we get paid on the first business day and not the first of the month. He seemed to understand the system after I went into detail about the January late checks.

I explained to my friend that we should get paid tomorrow but I would not panic until the 4th if the money was not in.