• Know the laws regarding your paydays.money in hand image by Bruce MacQueen from Fotolia.com
  
  When hired at a new job, one of the first questions everyone wants to ask but hesitates to for fear of being improper is “When is payday?” Most people would be surprised to discover that the state in which you are working determines nearly every law regarding paydays, not the federal government.
  
  

Method

• The method of wage payment varies from state to state. Most, like Maryland and California, require that wage payment must be in cash or in the form of a check that can be immediately turned into cash by a financial institution. Some states, like Wisconsin, actually permit an employer to require direct deposit instead of offering cash or a check for wage payment.
  
  

Frequency

• States also have laws on how frequently an employee must be paid their wages. California has several periods ranging from once a month to once a week, depending on the industry the employee is working in. Maryland has determined that employers must be paid a minimum of twice a month, with very few exceptions. Wisconsin only requires employers to pay their employees once a month, with exceptions for logging and agricultural laborers, who can be paid no less than four times a year.
  
  

Holidays

• Sometimes a regular payday falls on a holiday. The requirements for when an employer pays their employee in that instance once again varies from state to state. Maryland dictates that its employers must pay the employee on the workday preceding the holiday. California’s employers are required to pay their employees the business day following the holiday. Wisconsin, however, is silent on the subject.