If you work for the State of Alabama, your EOM payment lands on the first of each month and covers work you performed from the 16th through the last day of the previous month. When the first falls on a weekend or state holiday, the deposit moves up to the last workday before that date. What actually hits your account is your semi-monthly gross pay minus federal and Alabama income tax, Social Security and Medicare, your retirement contribution, and any insurance or deferred-compensation amounts you elected.
When the EOM Payment Arrives
Alabama Code Section 36-6-1 requires state employees to be paid semi-monthly, one payday in arrears. The two paydays each month are the first and the sixteenth. The first-of-the-month check is the EOM payment and covers the second half of the prior month; the sixteenth covers the first through the fifteenth of the current month.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 36-6-1 – Employee Defined; Time of Payment of Salaries Generally
Weekend and holiday timing works one way for most of the year and differently for one date. If the first or sixteenth lands on a weekend or state holiday, you get paid on the last workday before. The exception is October 1: when that date falls on a weekend or holiday, payment shifts to the next workday instead, because October 1 opens Alabama’s fiscal year and the statute aligns that payment with fiscal-year accounting.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 36-6-1 – Employee Defined; Time of Payment of Salaries Generally
How Your Gross Pay Is Calculated
Your gross on each check is your annual salary divided by 24. The State Personnel Department publishes a searchable pay plan and downloadable salary schedules organized by pay grade, and every classified and unclassified position is assigned a grade with a corresponding semi-monthly rate. You can look yours up directly on the Personnel Department’s site.2Alabama State Personnel Department. Pay Plan (Salary Schedule)
Mandatory Deductions on the EOM Check
Four categories of withholding are required on every paycheck: federal income tax, Alabama income tax, FICA, and your ERS retirement contribution.
Federal Income Tax
The federal amount depends on the filing status and allowances you set on your W-4. For tax year 2026, federal brackets for a single filer start at 10 percent on taxable income up to $12,400 and top out at 37 percent above $640,600. For married couples filing jointly, the 37 percent bracket begins at $768,700. The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for joint filers.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 If your withholding has been producing large refunds or balances due at tax time, your agency’s HR office can update your W-4.
Alabama State Income Tax
Alabama uses three brackets. For single filers, the rates are 2 percent on the first $500 of taxable income, 4 percent on the next $2,500, and 5 percent on everything above $3,000. For married couples filing jointly, the 2 percent rate covers the first $1,000, the 4 percent rate the next $5,000, and the 5 percent rate everything above $6,000.4Alabama Department of Revenue. Individual Income Tax Most state salaries push you well past those thresholds, so most of your state withholding is calculated at 5 percent. Alabama also allows a deduction for federal income tax paid when calculating state taxable income, which trims the effective state bill.
Social Security and Medicare
Social Security is withheld at 6.2 percent of gross earnings up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Once your cumulative earnings for the year cross that cap, Social Security withholding stops for the rest of the calendar year, and your net pay rises noticeably on the remaining checks.5Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
Medicare is withheld at 1.45 percent on all earnings with no cap. If your annual wages exceed $200,000 as a single filer or $250,000 filing jointly, an additional 0.9 percent Medicare surtax applies to earnings above that threshold, and the surtax comes entirely out of your paycheck with no employer match.6Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax
Employees’ Retirement System
Participation in the Employees’ Retirement System is a condition of employment for eligible state workers, and your contribution rate depends on when you were hired:
- Tier 1 members hired before January 1, 2013 contribute 7.5 percent of earnable compensation, or 8.5 percent for firefighters, law enforcement officers, and correctional officers.
- Tier 2 members hired on or after January 1, 2013 contribute a lower percentage, typically around 6 percent for regular employees. Your exact rate appears on your pay stub and in your RSA member handbook.
Some local employers have elected under Act 2022-348 to give Tier 2 members the same benefits as Tier 1. If your employer made that election, your contribution rate rises to match the Tier 1 rate of 7.5 percent, or 8.5 percent for public safety roles.7Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 36-27-6.5 – Employers Authorized to Provide Tier I Benefits to Tier II Members ERS contributions are pre-tax, so they reduce the wages that federal and state income tax are calculated on.
Voluntary Deductions You May See
State Employees’ Health Insurance Plan
The State Employees’ Insurance Board administers SEHIP, with medical coverage through BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama and a separate pharmacy benefit. Your premium depends on which tier you chose at enrollment (individual, employee-plus-spouse, employee-plus-children, or family), and it is split across your two monthly paychecks. Current premium rates are published at alseib.org.
RSA-1 Deferred Compensation
RSA-1 is a 457(b) plan that lets you save beyond your mandatory ERS contribution. For 2026, the regular deferral limit is $24,500.8Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs If you are 50 or older, an additional $8,000 catch-up applies, for a total of $32,500. Employees aged 60 through 63 qualify for an enhanced catch-up of $11,250 instead, for a total of $35,750.9Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500 Contributions reduce your taxable wages in the year they are made, so raising your deferral lowers your federal and state withholding on each check.
How the Money Is Delivered
Direct deposit is the state’s standard payment method. New employees set it up during onboarding by providing a routing and account number on a direct deposit form or a voided check. The former two-pay-period pre-note verification has been eliminated, so deposits start sooner after setup. You choose the financial institution; the state cannot require you to use a particular bank.10eCFR. Part 205 – Electronic Fund Transfers (Regulation E) If you switch banks, process the update through your agency’s payroll office well before the next payday so nothing falls into the gap.
In transitional situations, such as a new hire whose direct deposit has not yet activated or an employee mid-switch, you may receive a paper warrant for one or two pay periods until the electronic transfer takes effect.
Where to View Your Stub and W-2
The State of Alabama Accounting and Resource System (STAARS) includes an Employee Self Service portal that stores every pay statement, deduction breakdown, and annual W-2. You log in with the credentials set during onboarding. Because the portal keeps a running history, comparing two consecutive checks is the fastest way to spot a change in withholding or a payroll error.
Overtime, Comp Time, and Garnishments
Two other line items sometimes show up on the EOM stub and are worth recognizing.
State employees who are non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act must be paid for hours over 40 in a workweek at one and one-half times their regular rate.11U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #7: State and Local Governments Under the Fair Labor Standards Act Unlike private employers, the state can grant compensatory time off instead of cash overtime, at the same one-and-a-half rate. Public safety, emergency response, and seasonal employees can bank up to 480 hours of comp time (from 320 actual overtime hours); everyone else caps at 240 hours (from 160 overtime hours). Once you hit the cap, additional overtime must be paid in cash.12eCFR. Section 7(o) – Compensatory Time and Compensatory Time Off
If a creditor gets a garnishment order against you, federal law limits how much can be pulled from a paycheck. For ordinary consumer debt, the ceiling is the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Court-ordered child or spousal support runs higher: up to 50 percent of disposable earnings if you support another spouse or child, 60 percent if you do not, and each figure rises by 5 percentage points when the order covers payments more than 12 weeks overdue.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment Defaulted federal student loans and other non-tax federal debts carry a separate 15 percent limit.14U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #30: Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act If an unexpected garnishment appears on your stub, your payroll office can tell you which order triggered it.