Missouri: Pay Frequency and Wage-Payment Lag Requirements

Requirements one by one

Coverage turns on the employer's legal form or industry

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.080 applies to all corporations doing business in
Missouri and to all persons operating railroads or railroad shops in the state.
The section is not written as a universal recurring-pay rule for every kind of
private employer.

For a covered employer, ordinary employees must be paid as often as
semimonthly. Each payment must arrive within sixteen days after the applicable
payroll period closes.

Named classifications may be paid monthly

At the employer's option, executive, administrative, and professional
employees may be paid monthly. The same monthly alternative applies to sales
people and other employees whose compensation is based wholly or partly on
commission.

The classification exception changes frequency, but the statute does not
state a separate monthly-payment lag for those employees.

A violation is a misdemeanor

Section 290.080 makes a violation a misdemeanor. On conviction, the fine is at
least $50 and no more than $500 for each offense.

What trips people up

The coverage sentence matters. The semimonthly rule applies broadly to
corporations, but outside that category the statute specifically names persons
operating railroads or railroad shops. It should not be paraphrased as a
universal rule for every Missouri business regardless of legal form.

The sixteen-day period is a lag measured from the close of each payroll period.
It is separate from the requirement to use a semimonthly schedule.

Common questions

May a covered Missouri corporation pay ordinary employees monthly?

No. The general schedule for covered employees is semimonthly. Monthly payment
is reserved for the classifications and compensation arrangements named in
§ 290.080.

May a commission employee be paid monthly?

Yes. An employee compensated wholly or partly on commission is within the
express monthly alternative.

Does the statute require a posted regular payday?

Section 290.080 does not state an advance designation or posting rule. It does
separately require a monthly statement of total deductions, which is outside
this survey's payday-notice scope.

Statutes and sources

• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 290.080. Coverage, semimonthly frequency, sixteen-day
  lag, monthly classification exceptions, and misdemeanor fine. Official text
  (accessed July 12, 2026).