Dealer path · control architecture
Audit the pay system before a dispute defines it.
A defensible review identifies the work, classifies every pay component, aligns the measurement unit, tests each legal route separately, and preserves the record behind the decision.
Operational control matrix
Give every inference an owner and a record.
The control question is not merely whether payroll totals. It is whether the facts, rule selection, calculation, proof, and corrective action can be reconstructed for the same period.
| Control | Cadence | Owner | Minimum evidence | Escalation trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C01Work and time capture | Daily / each shift | Operations + payroll | Raw punches, edit trail, schedule, activity exceptions | Scheduled, system, or production activity outside recorded time |
| C02Pay-plan versioning | Before effective date | HR + compensation | Signed version, receipt, formula, code map, effective dates | Practice, code, or formula differs from the operative writing |
| C03Coverage-route file | At classification and role change | HR + counsel | Entity, establishment, actual duties, route predicates | Title or federal route is doing work that the facts do not support |
| C04Period reconciliation | Before payroll closes | Payroll + department | Time × output/deals × pay register × statement | A unit, hour, premium, rate, or transaction does not trace across systems |
| C05Commission debit trace | Each later debit | Sales accounting | Transaction, plan condition, event proof, both statement lines | Pooled loss, unexplained code, or missing transaction-level connection |
| C06Correction and preservation | At identified variance | Named control owner | Raw data hold, correction log, affected periods, decision record | A variance repeats, source data can change, or the predicate remains unresolved |
Minimum decision record
A conclusion without its predicates is not an audit trail.
For each pay system and period, retain the precise question, source version, fact set, calculation unit, corroborating and contradictory proof, unresolved issue, action owner, and re-check date.
- 01Define the tested proposition.
Example: whether a claimed federal overtime route has each establishment, duty, pay, and record predicate—not whether the employee is “exempt” in the abstract.
- 02Attach the matched packet.
Plan, raw time, system or output detail, pay register, statement, audit trail, and any correction must cover identified dates and entities.
- 03Record the boundary.
State which California, federal, local, classification, remedy, or factual question remains outside the determination.
- 04Close the control loop.
Name the system owner, correction, preservation step, affected population, due date, and source-check trigger.
Browser-local instruments
Move from architecture to a bounded working paper.
Surface independent predicates, reconciliation questions, and the next record pull.
02 · MeasureDecompose entered wage layersKeep low, base, and high arithmetic separate from the decision about which inputs control.
03 · Classify / verifyTrace transaction credits and debitsTest classification, earning-event, timing, and later-debit proof transaction by transaction.