Thread regarding Elevance Health (Anthem) layoffs

@b1 They moved the last paycheck to a Thursday to get it into 2026.

@f4 That is correct. They moved the last pay day to Thrusday instead of Friday to move this up to 2026. They have clearly came up with a way to make their labor expenses look less for the first 3 quarters.
Also as I remember that last time this happened we received and extra check that didn't have benefits like health care deducted from it.
That extra check you get in January you need to set aside to cover your paycheck shortage going forward.

@es
Associates should finally get together filing a class action lawsuit suit
Been an associate there for 35 years this has never happened. Opportunity for them to do something like this.
they all sit around trying to figure out how to pad their pockets at everyone’s expense customers and employees.

@jj Sure, calculate payroll at Annual Salary / 2,087 Hours * 80 hours. Then you never have to worry about the 27 paycheck year.

When I worked at Dow, their formula was Salary / 365 * 14. That was a $1 or two off of using 80/2087 as the ratio.

The 2087 number coms from a solar cycle ( see Wikipedia page) is a 400 year period that has 20871 weeks. General Accounting Office.

if you do the math On total days…

400 yrs X 365 days

• 24 leap year days ( feb 29)x 4 centuries

1 Feb 29 in the xx00 which occurs once every 400 years( in 2000, 2400, 2800, …)

adding up total days and divide by 7 gets you 20871 weeks.

looking at an 800 year period…..you would have 20871 2 week pay periods

20871 paychecks/ 800 years X 80 hrs/ paycheck= 2087.1 hrs/ year

Well if it happens every 11 years then it would have occurred in 2015 for company. It never happened in 2015.

@10f Same here.
"Annual salary / 2080" yields an equivalent hourly rate, which gets applied to 80 hours for every paycheck. Been that way for decades.
This is the first time in 25+ years I can recall being told "your bi-weekly paychecks will be getting cut by 3.7%."

Been in salary job over 30 years never ever ever had this happen for. Same amount every 2 weeks forever til now.

@mq all of us.

I've been in the workforce for more than a few minutes; this is standard.

Does this apply to salary or hourly employees?

If gross pay is being reduced over the 27 weeks, then the 401k and match contributions will be lower too. Meaning EH will have less to pay out in 401k contributions in 2026 for those they plan to rif prior to year end 2026. Yet another savings for them on top of the interest gains on our income that is being withheld each month until the 27th pay period.

Feels like they’re directly leveraging our paycheck shortfalls for their gain. If they’re going pay me the rest of my salary in 2027 in that first paycheck. I want interest because they took a loan from me, for the entire year at the going rate which is what like 20 something percent right now? Because I need it now not in a year.

This is what the incompetent SLT means by having to do more with less. More work, less money.

I would expect that associates who don't work the full calendar year of 2026--whether it be due to a RIF, retirement, quitting, or even a mid-year start date--should receive a small adjustment paycheck of about 3.85% of salary to account for the shorting they experience in all of their other paychecks which won't be made up with a 27th paycheck, since they were not employed for the full year.
More likely, that money will get spent on Gucci belts, second watches, spray tans, golf outings, second helpings of lobster thermidor, and the like.

There must be a way to avoid this problem. . . This one will hurt many associates. On top of all the other additional expenses now and a temporary pay cut for a year. Bites.

We don't have to worry about smaller paychecks. We all know our raises will be at least as high enough to be considered a cost of living adjustment, right??? 🙄 That money historically comes from pool of money they have NEVER EVER NOT EVEN ONCE budgeted for raises and promotions. Senior management doesn't allow it. EVER. Never has.

It is legit, according to Google…affecting many companies in 2027. One option is to adjust December 31.

@b1 They pushed 01/01/2027 to 12/31/2026

I plan on doing roughly 3% less for the first 26 paychecks of 2026 - seems fair.

They twist numbers like used car salesmen. By this logic if I were to quit on December 31, 2025 I'm not entitled to a paycheck in January for the work performed the last 2 weeks of December in because I was not employed by them at all in 2026.

Do you think there is a SLT meeting where they only discuss new ways to sc--w employees? I bet someone is going to get a bigger bonus for this idea! Might be time to get a 3rd really expensive watch!!

@er Yeah the language they are using is hilarious. They even try to be intentionally confusing by saying the 27th paycheck will incorporate any additional adjustments needed to ensure you are paid your annual salary. There are no adjustments. It will be the exact same as the paycheck before it. And congrats, you've now been paid your "annual" salary in 2026 by working 54 weeks to earn it.

@az You are correct. 27 paychecks means 27 work periods means 378 days.

Elevance's plan is to steal an entire paycheck from each employee and use their denial that the work has been done to obfuscate their wage theft.

All Elevance employees should file a wage theft claim on Jan 5th claiming back the $200-ish reduction in pay.

Here is Elevance's logic. Note how they avoid the fact that they are not paying for the pay period in 2025 by their own words.

I understand there may be some confusion about how the pay periods align with the calendar year. Here's a breakdown to clarify:
27 Pay Periods Explained: In 2026, there are indeed 27 pay periods. This situation arises because payroll processing doesn't precisely match the 365- or 366-day calendar. The extra paycheck does not correspond to an increase in actual workdays; instead, it results from the way pay periods overlap into the start of 2026.

Paychecks Covering Previous Year Hours: You are correct that the first paycheck in 2026, dated January 2, covers work done in 2025. Even though this pay period spans days from the previous year, it counts toward the 27 pay periods of 2026.

Annual Salary and Total Pay: Despite receiving 27 paychecks, your total annual salary for 2026 will still correspond to your usual annual earnings. For example, with a salary of $78,000, each biweekly paycheck will be slightly reduced, but the total pay by the end of 2026 will equal your annual salary. The 27th paycheck will incorporate any necessary adjustments to ensure your salary aligns with your expected annual income.

Total Working Days: The notion of working 378 days doesn't align with actual workdays or contractual work expectations but results from the mechanics of biweekly payroll periods. Your salary reflects work that aligns with your contracted annual expectations, not additional days worked beyond a typical year.
Please note that at this time your case has been resolved and is currently awaiting acceptance.

If you have any further questions regarding this case or feel the inquiry was not resolved please contact us via this case, chat, or 866-777-9636 and reference the Human Resource case number.

Every biweekly pay year covers 2,085.7 hours. Since they only pay every 2 weeks, that 5.7 hours adds up each year until it reaches 14, and you get the 27th paycheck.

27 pay checks means 27 * 14 days working or 378. My payslip on Jan 2nd will say that the pay period is for 12/15/2025 until the last payslip which will say until 12/27/2026. That's 378 days. But Anthem is ONLY paying for 365 days in 2026. That's willfull wage theft. Paying an annual salary for 2,085.7 hours to cover 2,160 hours of work. That's what is happening.

Each paycheck is made to pay for the work just completed.

Oh wonderful. A $2-300 per month pay cut. That’s just what I needed right now.

The best way to demonstrate that this is a pay reduction is to look at what you would get paid if you started work on 1/1/26 and your last day was 12/31/26. Someone working that timeframe with an annual salary of $100k would be paid $96,724.

To earn the full $100k that is paid out in 2026 across 27 checks would require you to work 54 weeks from 12/15/25 to 12/25/26.

Last time I checked, there were 365 days in a year not 364. How am I to trust that math or anything else in that email? They don’t even know how many days are in a year.

I've been the workforce for a minute or two; this isn't unusual.

@aw - my thoughts, exactly. ELV will "gain" 3.7% of salary for every associate they RIF, rebadge, or otherwise get rid of, during 2026.
Only those who are still on the books as of EOY2026 will be made whole.
Vest Boy will probably get a bonus for this.
Bi-weekly deductions for health insurance benefits had better feature a similar 3.7% reduction.

So glad I'm leaving this toxic swamp!

So the last time this happened , 27 pay periods they didn’t reduce anyone’s pay…. So yes they are sc--wing us. This fing company.

@ax yes, there’s no arguing that every 11-12 years a biweekly pay cycle will have 27 pay checks within a calendar year instead of 26. But the days worked to earn those paychecks are not tied to the calendar year. Each one of those paychecks are still tied to the work done in the preceding 2 weeks.

How many weeks of work will be required to earn your 27 paychecks received in 2026? 54. How many weeks of work have been required to earn that same annual salary spread across 26 paychecks for the past 11 years? 52.

My point isn’t even that the company is trying to sc--w us. It’s clearly a real accounting quirk that has tax implications, but it doesn’t take much research or talking to people at other companies to know that it is not the norm to reduce biweekly pay in those years because it results in a 3.7% pay reduction to your employees. Or a recoup in overpayment for the last 11 years if that’s how you want to look at it but that doesn’t change the fact that for the next 54 weeks you are receiving less pay every two weeks for the same amount of time worked than you have for the past 11 years.

I am only seeing 26 paycheck dates on the 2026 calendar. I don’t understand where the 27th to “make us whole” is coming from.

Sorry the equation didnt come through. Its 365 days divided by 14 days in a pay period and you get 26.07 pay periods a year. That .07 accumulates over time.

So as much as I would like to say they are sc--wing us...mathematically its correct. Happened to me many years ago at another company.

Sadly its real...Here is the explanation for why this happens:
​The Math Behind the Anomaly
​A standard calendar year has 365 days (366 in a leap year).
​A biweekly pay period covers 14 days (paid every two weeks).
​To find the number of pay periods in a year, you divide:

​\frac{365 \text{ days}}{14 \text{ days/period}} = 26.0714 \text{ pay periods}
​Since a year is slightly longer than exactly 26 biweekly periods, that extra fraction (about 0.07 of a pay period) accumulates over time

Roughly every 11 or 12 years (or sometimes 14), these small accumulated fractions add up to a full extra 14-day pay period. This results in 27 pay periods in a single calendar year, instead of the usual 26.

@aw So not true - this would be illegal.

@av For most biweekly payroll schedules, a 27th pay period happens roughly every 11 years — though it can vary depending on when paydays fall (and whether leap years shift them).
Here’s why:
A normal year is 365 days, which is 1 day longer than the 364 days covered by 26 biweekly pay periods.
That “extra day” (or 2 in leap years) pushes your pay dates earlier in the calendar each year.
Over time, those small shifts accumulate. After about 11 years, one of your regular paydays will fall three days earlier than it did at the start of the cycle — enough to “fit” a 27th payday in the same calendar year.
In short:
Happens about once every 11 years (sometimes 10 or 12 depending on leap years and start date).
Each calendar can vary slightly, depending on the day of the week they issue paychecks and whether they use calendar-year or fiscal-year accounting for payroll.

This is clearly an advantage to ELV in a year where major RIFs are planned - you will be getting roughly 3% less per paycheck but will only be made whole if you make it till the end of the year to get that 27th check - ELV will realize this 3% savings throughout the year while also gaining the savings of eliminating positions- genius!!!

@as if you’re the math expert, explain how you have a 27th pay period without any additional work days?

The number of workdays are not the same. You can’t have a 27th pay period without 14 additional calendar days unless you reduce the number of days in a pay period which is not happening.

If you make $100k this year, when you work the pay period from December 1st to December 12th you will be paid $3,846 on December 19th for those 10 work days. When you work the next 10 days (Dec 10th - Dec 26th), you will be paid $3,703 on Jan 2nd for the same amount of time worked (a 3.7% reduction).

And that will continue for an additional year because your “annual” salary is now spread across 54 weeks instead of 52.

Please tell me where the math is off.

@aq The 27 pay periods in 2026 don’t mean associates are working additional days or receiving less pay for the same work. It’s just a timing quirk of the payroll calendar.
Here’s what’s actually happening: annual salaries are divided evenly across the number of pay periods in the year. Because 2026 has 27 pay periods instead of the usual 26, each individual paycheck will be slightly smaller — but the total annual pay stays the same, and there are still the same number of workdays in the year.
You’re not being asked to work 10 extra days; it’s simply that the calendar alignment shifts every 11 years or so, creating an “extra” pay date. Clearly Math is not your thing.