UPDATE Monday noon— Senate passed bill and sent to House of Delegates for consideration.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The way 45,000 state workers are paid will change with a bill that will get a final vote from the state Senate on Monday.
The bill, SB 322, requires state employees to be paid every two weeks. With the current law, paychecks go out twice a month.
The shift, which would take effect in 2015, brings state workers into the same pay schedule the state requires of private employers.
For years, the state has issued checks twice a month because of the state’s antiquated accounting system. An upgrade to the payroll system would let the state to switch to paychecks every other week.
With the change, state workers will get 26 paychecks a year instead of 24. Employees will receive three checks two months of the year, but the amount workers are paid will not change.
“Employees will never go another three day weekend without a paycheck and it will be the same pay every two weeks,” said Glen Gainer, state auditor. “They know, every other Friday, ‘I’m going to have a paycheck in my hand.'”
If the Senate approves the bill, it will go the House of Delegates with less than three weeks left in the 2014 Regular Legislative Session.