this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
49 points (96.2% liked)

Ask Lemmy

39421 readers
2556 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

My parents told me that in China, they get paid once a month. And its a common story where employers refuse to pay their employees, and authorities kinda suck at doing anything about it...

Sometimes they ask you to 试工 (trial work?) for like a day (or whatever period of time they ask you to do), then they just say your performance is bad or whatever excuse, refuse to hire you, then you leave empty handed, and basically did work for free. So when my mom was was looking for work, I heard her ask "so just to make sure: I do get paid for today regardless of if you hire me or not right" (that was here in the US, at a store run by another ethnic Chinese), which is when she warned me about the shenanigans in China...

Anyways:

Here in the US, it's always been weekly pay

I don't think they ever had an issue with employers refusing to pay over here.

In China, my mom told me that sometimes they delay your pay for like a few days to sometimes even almost a month late... like its routine...

that China stuff was before 2010 btw

So about the overtime...

There's no such thing as the 1.5x bonus for time over 40 hours in China...

Sometimes they have performance-based bonus pay.

Like for example: my mom worked in electronics sales (think a sort of "Best Buy" type of thing) and like get commissions for making more sales... that type of stuff...

Afaik, there has always bonus pay for overtime for the employers my parents worked for here in the US. (I mean unless you are talking about those sketchy "under the table stuff" which my parents never did cuz they don't wanna mess the IRS.)

So hows the situation in your country? Is there like routine delayed pay or those shenanigans?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

Bi weekly pay. Anything bast 40 a week is overtime @1.5, as is anything past 8hr a day. Holidays, if worked, are double pay. American midwestish

[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

So hows the situation in your country?

Monthly. Nearly 100%

Germany here.

Payday is usually written in your contract. It can vary from the beginning of the current (!) month to the middle of the following month.

Workers have very strong rights if the company does not do it properly: They can go to court immediately, and they don't even need a lawyer in such cases. The courts are going to hear them, always, and are known as generally favorable towards the workers.

[–] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

To add to that, things can be a bit messier in small companies, both for good (boss has a good year and just gives you money / sends well-paid work your way) and more often for bad.

I have to admit I did " free trial work" and was not hired afterwards, twice. First time I was essentially just hanging out with the other workers for a day, to see if I was a good fit (apparently not), second time I actually helped for a few days, and then their preferred hire did agree to join. Got paid under the table though, and I was unemployed, bored and the job was fun, so I am not too salty.

All my proper long term jobs were with larger companies with strong unions and collective agreements though. Can recommend, it may not look necessary if you make it past the "lower ranks", but I hate negotiating and "job x is rated as pay level y" makes things so much easier

[–] getFrog@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, I'm in Germany too and I only recently learned that 'Trial work' without a contract is actually completely illegal (thanks random NDR youtube clip!). But I guess companies know some random loopholes around it?

[–] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

No, it's just illegal. But so is paying someone in cash while he receives ALG, so yeah.

[–] HeHoXa@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And what are the interests rates like on your credit? (Specify credit card number.)

[–] WongKaKui@piefed.ca 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure my credit card number is 0408 1516 2342 6769

Make sure to go buy a plane ticket with it.

(I'm not responsible for any plane crashes 😉)

[–] HeHoXa@lemmy.zip 2 points 17 hours ago

Hey c'mon don't be silly.

I have to post my personality quiz that tells you what kind of frog you are according to your CCV and expiration date first.

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

In France and Germany you are paid monthly, by bank transfer (for most jobs). Tax are automatically accounted for, your pay slip will show the Brute/Brutto (what the employers pay) and Net/Netto (what you receive on your bank account).

In both countries, trial period must be paid. If you come 1 day to work and they don't want you. They must pay you for the 1 day of work.

In Germany, how good things are can vary. I always had a good situation because I work in the automotive industry. For most my career my contract was "Tarifvertrag" which means it is compliant with the rules of the workers union IG-Metall, this includes the salary grid. The union is negotiating the salary increase for millions of employees on a yearly basis. You stamp in and out of work. Your work time is counted to the minute. Overtime is accumulated in a time account that you can recover as paid holiday or paid at overtime rate. Working Saturdays and Sundays is paid a special rate as well (not sure, I think it is 150% Saturday and 200% Sunday). After trial period, resignation is 10 weeks notice for both the employee and employer. They must pay you all of your overtime when you leave, and let you use all the holidays you are due.

If your profession is covered by a strong workers union, things are pretty good. Things can pretty shitty if you are independent or working for a startup or hospitality business.

[–] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Not sure how you got the impression that, "here in the US, it's always weekly pay." Semi weekly or bi-monthly is more common.

There are some delinquent employers and I'd say despite the illegality wage theft by an employer is considered a lesser crime by our justice system than stealing from your workplace.

[–] WongKaKui@piefed.ca 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Is rural America different?

My immediate family has only been to Brooklyn-NYC, and Philly

So maybe my experiences are limited... 🤷‍♂️

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 9 points 2 days ago

No. It's more about your job/profession than where you're located.

[–] ijustliketrains@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I’ve seen some fast food, retail, warehouse (Amazon), etc. have weekly pay, but the classic pay structure is every 2 weeks for hourly or twice a month for salary. Gives the payroll department time to make sure everything has been entered correctly.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

every 2 weeks for hourly or twice a month for salary

🤔

[–] BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Midwest, USA. The last time i was hourly, I was in the UAW. We were paid weekly. Overtime was 1.5x, Sundays were 2x. Holidays were an extra 1x, so a Friday holiday would be 2x. A Saturday holiday would be 2.5x, and a Sunday holiday would be a glorious 3x.

Since I've been salary. One place has been paid twice a month and the rest have been every two weeks. One place had what they called "bank hours", where anything over 45 hours (our base week) were put into your hours bank. This could be used as additional PTO. The cap for the bank was 60 hours. After that, you were paid out straight time with your overage. Another place paid out straight time over 45 (our base week was 40 hours) that pay period, no bank.

Where I am at now is just straight salary, but I rarely work over 40. And the pay is still significantly more than anywhere else I have worked. Which makes me wonder if those other companies knew they were over working us, and our base salaries were based on the assumption of how much OT we would be working.

[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

US. Paid twice a month. My current employer payment system is fully automated, so my paycheck shows up at the same time down to the minute. I'm also paid a set salary and expected to work 40+ hours "until the work is done" so balancing my responsibilities is up to me. Lots of so-called "professional" or "white-collar" jobs are like this. Specifically, I'm an engineering manager.

Every job I can think of has paid twice a month, even going back to minimum wage jobs I had in high school.

I've seen signs for jobs that pay daily, they are all for entry-level jobs like for a fast food restaurant position.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

People tend to like to get paid as often as possible. Its kinda redic that places don't do weekly but every two weeks is pretty standard. Worked at a place that paid monthly loooooonnnngggg ago and they would lose people for it. Some folks could not wait a month for a paycheck because they run through money like water when they have it.

[–] homura1650@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

US here. I've only ever seen bi-weekly and twice-monthly.

Overtime is a given (legally required) for hourly work; however there are a lot of shenanigans employers do around timecards that does not get nearly as much enforcement as it should.

It also typically takes about a month from when you start working to when you get your first paycheck. Paychecks normally come between 1 and 2 weeks after the pay period ends; and your first pay check tends to be extra delayed. Having said that, the one time this was a problem for me, I was able to walk into the HR office and get a hand written check on the spot (no clue how common that is).

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

While I completely agree, to be clear, there’s no requirement for overtime pay for salaried workers, and this is widely abused by companies

My brother works in a unionized industry and is the only exception I know: as a salaried employee he is not part of the union but he does get some union-driven benefits …. Not that he’ll ever admit that

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

It largely depends on the employer. In the US, I've been paid weekly, every other week, and monthly.

As for overtime, again, it depends on the employer and the jurisdiction.

Some employers absolutely forbid overtime. Federal requirements state anything over 40 hours in a week is paid at nothing less than 1.5x the hourly rate.

But some employers, states, and industries have their own rules. I worked at a place that paid OT for anything more than 10 hours in a day, or 40 hours in a week and paid double time for anything after the 7th day in a row.

[–] awmwrites@lemmy.cafe 7 points 2 days ago

Currently in the US, my full time job pays me every two weeks (May is a three paycheck month for us). It's a professional level job, but we're not overtime exempt, so I only work 40 hours a week or I need to take flex time to balance it out the next week. I sometimes work 9 or 10 hour days, but that just means I get to leave early on Friday.

My part time tutoring job pays once a month, I turn in teaching reports at the end of the week and they use that to calculate hours.

When I was teaching in China I'd get paid on the first of the month, never had any problems with delays, but that might be owed to being a foreign teacher.

When I was in Korea they'd pay twice a month, with the only delay being the first paycheck where they forgot to take down my banking information and the last paycheck that I had to fight HR for.

[–] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 4 points 2 days ago

UK, there is no standard. I've seen last working day of the month, every second week, 28th of every month, once per week, last Friday of the month unless that Friday is also the last day of the month in which case it's the Friday before.

Hourly workers tend to be paid weekly or fortnightly and salaried workers tend to be monthly but as far as I know there's no real rules, you get whatever your employment contract says.

[–] Spesknight@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Worked in Italy and Germany. In both the pay is monthly. In Italy the day is fixed while in Germany is more "by the end of the month" but not a fixed day.

[–] Libb@piefed.social 5 points 2 days ago

France: salaries are paid on a monthly basis in most situations.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I've only ever been paid weekly or bi-weekly (as in every other week, not twice a week).

There is work on commission usually in sales. So you sell a thing, you get a percentage of the item's sale price as a bonus. There are also tips, but that can work differently depending on the specific location; some places try to pool it all together and split evenly with management taking a cut but some other places this is illegal.

Of course I also have yet to work a job that wasn't enganging in wage theft, either. Which is either super bad luck on my part, or it's just a massive fucking issue. (hint: it's a massive fucking issue)

[–] Elextra@literature.cafe 1 points 2 days ago

Yes, I was also going to comment that commissions based sales are still a thing here in US.

[–] MrJameGumb@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

I get paid every two weeks and if that deposit doesn't hit my account then they can kiss my ass because I don't do shit for free

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

UK monthly is probably the most common but I have been paid weekly or fortnightly before.

[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago

In Spain you get paid at the end of the month, usually between the 25th and the 28th, depending if your bank is the same as your employer or not and if there's a weekend in there.

Overtime is counted by hours and is added. In the sectors I'm familiar with it is regulated and can't exceed a certain number of hours in a year. That doesn't mean that people don't do much overtime but the company needs to do some acrobatics and sometimes is not worth it.

There are trial periods where either the employer or the employee can end the contract without penalty for the company or having to justify it and the employee can quit without giving a 15 day notice.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Norway: Monthly.

Overtime is mandated by law: Starts at 50%, increased to 100% once past a few hours (4h) or later than a specific time (1800 or on sundays). I may remember those numbers incorrectly, but that's the gist of it.

Some temp jobs via Manpower and the like pay on a weekly or biweekly basis instead.

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Monthly. Either the 15th or the 25th every month depending on the company you work for.

Over time depends on the job. In my case Office hours are 8-17, one hour lunch. If I'm asked to work 06:00-08:00 or 17:00-20:00 on a weekday it's 1.5x pay and 1x time off. Weekends and night is 2x pay and 1x time off.

There are occasional scams and non payments. It's dealt with fairly severely.

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

In Minnesota, it seems to be almost universal for us to get paid bi-weekly. Most are on Friday, but my oddball employer ends the workweek on a Tuesday.

Wage theft in MN is much more subtle. It's very uncommon for a check to be late like that, in my experience. What employers will do instead is:

  • Force you to work off the clock
  • Force you into tipping pools or stealing tips
  • Make paycheck deductions
  • Not paying final wages
  • Paying subminimum wages
  • Worker misclassification
[–] abc@moist.catsweat.com 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What's MN? Is that Montenegro?

[–] WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

MN is the postal abbreviation for Minnesota in the USA.

[–] Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Ontario, Canada

Here in the US, it's always been weekly pay

There is no required pay frequency. I haven't personally been paid monthly, but it is allowed..

I don't think they ever had an issue with employers refusing to pay over here.

Trial shifts are a thing here, especially for service or kitchen jobs. It's illegal, but many people don't know their rights.

I've had problem try to not pay me after I quit. I had to take them to the labour board.

How often do you read about people being asked to clock out before they leave? Or only getting paid as long as re store is open and having to clean after? I feel like that's a very common

In China, my mom told me that sometimes they delay your pay for like a few days to sometimes even almost a month late... like its routine...

I've been paid late in Ontario. I've known people who had pay cuts because the company was t doing well.

There's no such thing as the 1.5x bonus for time over 40 hours in China...

I'm an engineer. As such, I am not covered by the employment standards act and my employer is not obligated to pay me to for overtime.

Sometimes they have performance-based bonus pay.

Like for example: my mom worked in electronics sales (think a sort of "Best Buy" type of thing) and like get commissions for making more sales... that type of stuff...

That's not uncommon at all. Some jobs are 100% commission.

Nothing to described is unheard of in Canada/the States. I'm kind of waiting for the "SIKE I WAS DESCRIBING THE US ALL ALONG" but figured I'd comment in case it was useful to anyone.

[–] WongKaKui@piefed.ca 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nothing to described is unheard of in Canada/the States. I’m kind of waiting for the “SIKE I WAS DESCRIBING THE US ALL ALONG” but figured I’d comment in case it was useful to anyone.

This isn't some trick question. I was born in Guangzhou, China. My knowledge of these employement stuff from my parents experiece in Taishan and Guangzhou (there as Taishan Hukou-holder migrant workers, so basically second class residents), as as for the US, its from Brooklyn-NY and Philly...

Which might be kinda limited in scope...

Its kinda interesting both US and China has these "grass greener on the other side" type of people...

We as a species are so similar no matter where we come from

[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (3 children)

"psych" is the word you were looking for.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I work for a US company but I'm in Canada. I get paid bi weekly. Never missed a paycheck yet. After ~ 10 years.

[–] toebert@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago

UK, monthly. The day changes between employers but most have been around the end of the month.

I've never had overtime pay but I also never did overtime, not sure if it's a thing. I've had on-call though, payment for it depends per employer.

[–] farmgineer@nord.pub 1 points 2 days ago

Japan: monthly for most salaried jobs, anywhere from the same day to monthly (longest by law) for other jobs.

[–] StillAlive@piefed.world 1 points 2 days ago

India, salaried employee, once a month.

load more comments
view more: next ›