Editorial and Corrections Policy

Source hierarchy

1. Controlling law, regulations, current tax forms, and form instructions.
2. Current IRS, US Department of Labor, and relevant state-agency guidance.
3. Agency examples used only for a narrow, matching fact pattern.
4. Professional secondary commentary used for context or issue-spotting, not authority.

A blog, search result, competitor, or generated summary is never the authority for a calculation rule. The source register records the agency, document, review date, document status, and exact use of each primary source.

Monitoring and review

Core IRS, DOL, California DIR, and California FTB sources are checked at least monthly and when a relevant agency announces a form, instruction, fact sheet, court-driven change, or correction. Tax-year transitions receive an additional review before a rule is treated as current.

Uncertainty pauses the number. A calculation path can be suspended while a source change is evaluated. PayClocked does not silently keep an older rule merely to preserve availability.

An independent reviewer is named only after reviewing the stated scope and consenting to attribution. If none is named, visitors should not infer independent payroll, legal, or tax approval.

Automation does math, not disputed facts

Automated

Versioned formulas, input validation, hour classification, and arithmetic checks.

Confirmed by visitor

Facts such as coverage, pay-component treatment, and whether the general rule fits.

Outside automation

Disputed exemption, worker classification, special-industry rules, and legal judgment.

Editorial responsibility

A human editor remains responsible for published claims, scope, citations, and corrections.

Tools can assist drafting, consistency review, and testing. They do not justify a fictional author, credential, reviewer, testimonial, or experience claim.

Citations and dates

PayClocked paraphrases official material and links to the original. A review date records when the linked material was checked; it is not presented as the agency’s publication date. When a document has a stated edition or update date, both dates appear.

Historical material can remain in the register for provenance, but it is labeled superseded and cannot silently drive a current result. An official source still does not resolve an individual exemption, occupation, agreement, or disputed fact by itself.

Commercial independence

Advertising does not determine a formula, source choice, conclusion, or correction. Advertiser material is not an editorial source. Methodology, source, correction, trust, and legal pages remain free of advertising, and a commercial relationship never implies official endorsement.

Material corrections stay visible

A reported issue is reproduced against the relevant inputs, engine version, rule version, and official source. A material error triggers a scope notice or suspension, corrected math and copy, regression tests, a source re-check, and a dated changelog entry.

The entry identifies the affected result, old and new behavior, and whether recalculation is advised. Obsolete pages are updated, redirected only to a genuinely equivalent current page, or removed—not kept searchable solely for traffic.

Reports can use the channel in Terms and Legal Notices. Include the page, displayed rule version, and a non-sensitive description when possible; do not send pay records, tax forms, SSNs, or calculator inputs.