Pay Calculations Rule Order

Modified on Thu, 4 May, 2023 at 4:54 PM

Rules are executed in the order in which they appear in the Pay Calculations profile. For many rules, the position relative to other rules is critical to achieving the desired calculated time.

When Does the Order Matter?

There are two scenarios where the order in which the rule appears is most critical.

Rules of the Same Type

If the profile includes multiple rules of the same type, the most difficult rule to achieve should typically appear first in the list. For example, a profile may include two separate Daily Overtime rules. One allocates worked time greater than 12 hours in a day to a Double Time counter (pay x 2) while the other allocates worked time greater than 8 hours to a standard overtime counter (pay x 1.5).

Because criteria in both rules are met upon working more than 12 hours, the 12 hours rule must execute first in the list for time to be calculated correctly. If the 12 hours rule were placed second, all worked time greater than 8 hours, including those greater than 12 hours, would go to the standard overtime counter and no hours would remain to be allocated to double time.

Daily Overtime rules in a Pay Calculations profile

Rules That Reference Other Rules

If a rule reference calculated time from another rule, the rule being referenced should be executed first. For example, our Allocate Regular Hours rule states that all regular hours should be allocated to the Regular counter except for hours already allocated to the Weekly Overtime counter.

The Weekly Overtime rule must be executed first in order for the Allocate Regular Hours rule to calculate correctly. If the Weekly Overtime rule is positioned second, then there are no weekly overtime hours to ignore, and all worked hours are allocated to the Regular counter.

Weekly overtime and regular hours rules