How we research

Sources

Every rate, wage cap, threshold and deadline comes from the government body that sets it: the state labor department or the agency that runs the program, the statute itself, or a federal regulator. Law firm alerts and news stories help us find changes, but we don’t cite them for a number. Each page lists its sources with the date we read them.

How pages stay current

• Each law, program and minimum wage lives in one data file with its sources. Pages are built from those files, so a number can’t say one thing on one page and another elsewhere.
• Pages decide what’s current from the dates in the data. When a new rate takes effect, the site is rebuilt that day and every page shows the new figure.
• We recheck official sources on a schedule and watch the times of year when announcements come out: state minimum wage notices in late summer and fall, paid leave rates in the fall, legislative sessions in the first half of the year.
• Every change we make to the facts goes in the change log with its date and source.

Statuses

In effect means the law’s first obligation date has passed. Upcoming means it has been enacted but nothing is due yet. Delayed, Blocked by a court and Repealed mean what they say, and we link the source.

Payroll systems

We say a payroll system handles a program only when a help document describes it, and we link the document and the date we read it. The document is either the payroll company’s own or the state program’s own help center naming that system, and each listing says which. We don’t rank or rate software.

Mistakes

If you find an error, email the publisher from the about page. Corrections are listed on the corrections page.