Pay and payroll
Pay and payroll
How often you're paid
Daisy runs payroll biweekly — every other Friday, 26 times a year — through Gusto. That's different from semi-monthly (which pays on fixed dates like the 15th and the last day of the month and lands 24 times a year); biweekly means your pay date shifts around the calendar a little, and roughly twice a year you'll get a third check in a month. Your pay stub, tax documents, and PTO balance all live in Gusto, and it's worth bookmarking rather than digging up from an old onboarding email.
What comes out of your paycheck
Federal income tax is withheld based on the W-4 you filed — see "New hire paperwork" for where that happens. On top of that, FICA takes 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare, matched by Daisy dollar for dollar; that match doesn't show up in your paycheck, but it's real money Daisy pays on your behalf. Texas has no state income tax, so unlike a lot of your friends in other states, you won't see a state withholding line on your stub at all.
Exempt vs. non-exempt
Your offer letter states whether your role is exempt or non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and it matters for how overtime works. Exempt employees — most engineering, product, and management roles — are paid a fixed salary regardless of hours worked in a given week, with no overtime pay. Non-exempt employees are paid for actual hours worked and are owed time-and-a-half for anything over 40 hours in a workweek, which is why non-exempt staff track their hours in Gusto — see "Hours and remote work" for how that works day to day. Classification isn't a judgment call you make; it follows from the role itself under FLSA rules.
Your W-2
Daisy issues your W-2 by January 31 each year, for the prior calendar year's wages and withholding. You'll get it electronically through Gusto if you've opted in, or by mail if you haven't — either way, it arrives in time to file your taxes without needing to chase anyone down in February.
Your final paycheck
If you leave Daisy, when your final paycheck arrives depends on how you left, under Texas's payday law. If you're let go, Daisy is required to pay all wages due within six calendar days. If you resign, you're paid on the next regularly scheduled payday — the same Friday you'd have been paid anyway. Either way, that final check includes any unused, accrued PTO — see "PTO and time off" for how that balance is calculated.