Guides

How to check your paycheck against your hours

5 minute read

Payroll mistakes are common when hours change week to week, you work for more than one employer, or overtime and premiums kick in. A short check every payday catches most of them while they're still easy to fix.

1. Get your own record of hours

Write down every shift: date, start, end, unpaid break and the job or call. Do it the same day. A note on your phone works; a time card or app is better. Your own record is what you compare against, and it's what you'll show if something is wrong.

2. Match the pay period

Find the period dates printed on the stub. Only count shifts inside those dates. Many stubs pay for a period that ended a week or more before payday, so the shifts you just worked often show up on the next check.

3. Check the hours line by line

• Regular hours match your total up to the overtime limit.
• Overtime and double time match your contract or your state's rule. Daily overtime is easy to miss when a long day falls in a short week.
• Premiums (night, lead, holiday, show-call) are on the right days.
• The rate is the one you were promised for that job or role.

4. Check the deductions

Compare each deduction with the last few stubs. Taxes move a little with gross pay. Dues, benefit contributions and garnishments should be steady or follow a known formula. A new or larger line deserves a question.

5. If it's short

Bring your record to payroll, your foreman or your steward. Be specific: the date, the hours and the amount you think is missing. Keep a copy of what you sent and when. Most errors get fixed on the next check once someone sees the numbers.

How insurance hour banks work

4 minute read

In many union health plans, your employers pay into a trust fund for every hour you work. The fund turns those hours into coverage: work enough hours and you're covered for a month. Plans that allow banking save the extra hours so they can carry you through a slow month.

The three numbers to know

• Hours for a month of coverage. Often somewhere around 80 to 120 hours, but every plan sets its own.
• The bank limit. The most hours the plan will hold for you, often stated as a number of months.
• The lag. Hours worked in one month usually buy coverage a month or two later, because the fund waits for employer contributions to come in.

Why seasonal workers run short

Convention, event and construction work comes in waves. A strong spring can fill the bank, and a long summer lull can drain it. The gap tends to show up two or three slow months in, when the bank can no longer cover the shortfall.

How to plan for it

• Track your hours by month, not just by week.
• Look a few months ahead. If the bank will run low, pick up calls before the slow stretch, not during it.
• Ask your fund office about self-pay or COBRA-style options, and the deadline to use them, before you need them.
• Keep your plan's summary plan description handy. It has the exact rules.

Keeping a mileage log when you drive between job sites

4 minute read

If you drive for work, a mileage log can be worth real money at tax time or when you ask for reimbursement. For 2026 the IRS standard business rate is 72.5 cents a mile (IRS announcement). The log is what backs the number up.

What to write down for each trip

• The date
• Where you started and where you went
• The miles, or the odometer readings at both ends
• The business reason, such as "move-in at the convention center" or "pick up materials"

Write it the same day. A log rebuilt months later from memory is much weaker if anyone asks about it.

Trips that usually count, and ones that usually don't

Driving between job sites during the day, to a temporary work location, or to pick up supplies is generally business travel. Driving from home to your regular workplace is generally commuting, which doesn't count. Temporary and multiple work locations have their own rules, so it's worth asking a tax professional how they apply to you.

Employee or self-employed?

Self-employed and 1099 workers can generally deduct business miles on their own return. Most W-2 employees can't deduct unreimbursed mileage on their federal return for current tax years, so for them the log matters most for getting reimbursed by an employer and for any state rules that still allow it. A tax preparer can tell you what applies to your situation.

Printables

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