Payroll Period Validation and Locking
How Greenroom validates pay periods, when a run becomes uneditable, and how corrections work after that
Period Dates
A pay period has a start date, an end date, and a check (pay) date. When you use the standard weekly picker, the period end is computed automatically from the start (a full Monday–Sunday week) — you don't set it independently.
Greenroom does not restrict the dates when you create a regular, prepay, or amendment run. You can create one for a past period, a future period, or anything in between — there's no rule requiring the run date or pay date to fall in any particular order relative to today. The check-date field defaults to the Thursday after period end, but that's a starting suggestion, not an enforced rule. Off-cycle runs have one narrow exception — see below.
A calendar button above the period picker, at the end of the line naming your production and pay schedule (View pay period calendar), opens a month view of the chosen pay date: your regular paydays and bank holidays are marked, and — read live from our tax partner rather than a fixed rule — the time by which the payroll has to be approved and submitted for that date, for example "Approve and submit by Mon, Sep 20, 3:00 PM EDT for the Thu, Sep 23, 2027 check date." Once that time has passed, it says Choose a new check date: "The approval deadline for this check date has passed." If the deadline couldn't be read, the calendar says so rather than guessing: "We couldn't confirm the approval deadline for this check date. Refresh to try again." When our tax partner lists no payday on that date, the calendar shows no deadline.
The off-cycle exception
For a weekly company, an off-cycle run can't be created with a pay date that lands on a weekday used by regular payroll. For any pay frequency, it is also blocked on the exact pay date of an existing regular run. This stops off-cycle runs from being used to route around the weekly minimum that applies to regular payroll (Broadway's $250; Off-Broadway and Development have no minimum, so there is nothing to route around on those tiers). The check-date field shows the reason and the create button disables when this hits; pick a different date, or use a regular run instead. Regular, prepay, and amendment runs are never subject to this check.
Duplicate Period Prevention
Greenroom blocks creating a second run of the same type for the exact same period — same company, same period start, same period end, same run type (regular, off-cycle, or prepay). This stops an accidental double-click or a second draft for a period you've already run from ever being created. There's no error message: if you ask for a run that already exists, Greenroom takes you to the existing run instead of creating another, whatever its status. A run still in Draft or In review opens on its Employees & Loan-outs step; one that's been submitted or paid opens on its detail page in History. So a week has at most one regular run: to pay more for a week whose regular run is already submitted, use an off-cycle run, and to correct it once it's paid, an amendment.
This check is exact, not a general overlap check — a period that merely overlaps an existing one but doesn't match it exactly isn't blocked. It's also scoped by type: you could have a regular run and an off-cycle run covering the same week, since they're different run types.
Amendment runs are the one exception. Because a paid run may need more than one round of correction, amendments are exempt from this same-period rule — you can create several amendments over time against the same original run. What's limited instead is having more than one open amendment (still in Draft or In review) against the same original run at once: starting another while one is open takes you to the open one. Once that one has been submitted, another can be started if needed. See Amendment Runs for the full correction workflow.
When a Run Locks
The edit actions below require Admin or Payroll. Approver teammates can read the payroll and approve a run they did not prepare, but cannot change its payees, amounts, or lines. QuickBooks package generation and downloads require Admin.
A run's payees, line items, and amounts can be edited only while it's in Draft or In review status. Once it moves to Approved, Processing, Paying out, or Paid, that run itself is fixed — you can view it, download its reports, and see it in history, but you can't change what's on it. A verified safe rollback or a background check of an interrupted submit can return a Processing run to In review, making it editable again. Other interrupted submissions stay locked and offer Resume submit to Admin and Payroll teammates or the reviewer whose approval is still current; see Status Transitions.
The lock is checked as each edit is written, under the run's own record lock — so an edit that arrives while the run is mid-submit is refused with "…is processing — a submitted run can no longer be edited" rather than landing just after the submission went through.
| Action | Draft / In review | Approved and later |
|---|---|---|
| Edit payee list | ||
| Change amounts or line items | ||
| View details | ||
| Download reports | ||
| Appear in history |
Change check date is a separate action available to Admin and Payroll while a run is Draft, In review, or Approved. It changes the check date and recalculates taxes; it does not reopen locked pay entries. Existing approvals still count if the amounts stay the same. Demo payrolls keep estimated taxes.
This is the same pay-entry lock for every company and every run type — there's no company setting that makes a paid run more or less locked.
Correcting a Paid Run
Once a run is paid, the only way to correct it is to create an Amendment — a separate run type built specifically for this. Any paid run, regardless of type, can be amended; there's no eligibility gate beyond the original run actually being paid. See Amendment Runs for the full walkthrough of how corrections are entered and how the numbers recalculate.
Status Transitions
A run moves through statuses in one direction, with two deliberate backward exceptions:
| From | To | What triggers it |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | In review | An Admin or Payroll teammate moves on from the entry steps: Continue: Payroll Summary on Vendors & Contractors, or Continue from a draft's Payroll Summary (Continue: Union Reports, or Continue: Submit Payroll on a run without Union Reports) |
| In review | Draft | You choose to edit the payroll again, or a reviewer returns it to the preparer |
| In review | Approved | The final required approval submits automatically, or an authorized teammate submits with the required approval already recorded |
| Approved | Processing | Straight after, in the same step of the submit |
| Processing | Paying out | Money has been committed (direct deposits given their payment numbers, union fund and trust remittance checks numbered, funds routed) — final confirmation from our tax partner is still pending |
| Paying out | Paid | Our tax partner confirms the run is paid |
| Processing | In review | Automatic after a verified safe refusal, such as an expired approval deadline, or when a background check confirms an interrupted submit left the payroll unapproved with our tax partner. Review the run, fix the named issue, then submit again. For an expired deadline, an Admin or Payroll teammate uses Change check date, then Save check date; taxes recalculate before submission. |
| Processing | Paid | Our tax partner's paid confirmation arrives before submission has finished recording Paying out; an all-benefits run can also go straight to Paid when it carries employer contributions, every included entry has no wages, deductions, taxes, reimbursements or net pay, no payroll remains with our tax partner, and its union fund check numbers and fund routing are saved. |
An interrupted submit whose outcome is still unconfirmed stays at Processing. In about 15 minutes, Resume submit can appear on Submit Payroll for an Admin or Payroll teammate or the reviewer whose approval is still current. An Approver using it first checks the attestation for the revision they approved. It checks with our tax partner first and does not approve an already-approved payroll again. Do not create a replacement run; see Resuming an interrupted submit.
There's no "Pending" status and no "Partially Paid" status in Greenroom — a run in the "Paying out" state has already committed its money; it just hasn't received final confirmation yet. Its payroll register, union remittance and QuickBooks package can be generated as a paid run's can, but the Consolidated register and 1099 filing preview count only runs that have reached Paid (see Reports Overview). See Payroll States for what each status means day-to-day.
Payee Eligibility
A run can't be submitted with zero payees — but beyond that, eligibility is checked per payee, not as a generic checklist. The panel above the Employees & Loan-outs or Vendors & Contractors table separates Ready to add from Not ready yet. Ready payees are named with their type and union, each with an Add; Add all appears for two or more. Those still missing something show one of these reasons:
| Reason shown | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Onboarding incomplete | The payee hasn't finished onboarding |
| No active pay rate | The payee is ready, but no pay rate covers this run's period, so the run was built without them. A payee who has a rate that misses the period gets a row saying what's wrong with it in place of this reason, for example Pay rate ended [date]; add one that covers this run or Pay rate starts [date], after this run's period |
| Needs a signed child trust with its account set up | The minor's trust authorization or account setup isn't complete; Open Finish setup goes to their setup page |
Setup gaps such as "Add a pay rate" or "Collect required documents" appear in the readiness badge's tooltip, and a payee whose rates have all ended reads "Add a current pay rate" there; Finish onboarding opens the payee record. The badge counts a rate in effect today or one starting later, while a run needs one in effect on its period's last day, so a payee can read Payroll-ready and still be left off a run their rate doesn't cover. A child-trust row has no readiness badge; it shows its reason and Open Finish setup link. A vendor never needs a pay rate, since vendors are paid per invoice, and neither does a contractor or loan-out on Contract / invoice-based payment. Vendors are not listed under No active pay rate; that doesn't guarantee they're on the run (see How a run gets built).
After an add, a notice names who joined and reports any other payees recalculated, approvals cleared, and taxes needing another sync with our tax partner. It names anyone added but excluded from totals, and why. If a payee is no longer ready when you click, nothing in that add is added. Adding is also refused while taxes are being calculated. See Who isn't on this run for the notice and refusal wording.
Work authorization no longer keeps anyone off a run. If an employee's employer I-9 attestation isn't finished, the Employees & Loan-outs step shows an "Employer I-9 attestation pending" warning with a link to their start-work packet, and payroll can continue.
Best Practices
- Double-check the period and check date before creating a run — creation allows past and future periods, but submission still has to meet our tax partner's approval deadline
- Use Draft/In review status while you're still confirming numbers — once a run moves to Approved, you can no longer edit it directly
- If you need to send an in-review run back for more edits, use Edit payroll (back to draft) on its Payroll Summary rather than trying to fix it after it's approved
- Plan for corrections through Amendment runs rather than trying to prevent every possible error before submitting
- Remember amendments are exempt from the duplicate-period rule — don't be surprised to see more than one amendment against the same original run over time
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Creating a run opens one you already have | You asked for an exact duplicate (same period, same type), so Greenroom took you to the existing run instead of creating another. Pick a different run type if you actually meant something like an off-cycle payment |
| "off-cycle payrolls cannot be run on the same day as a regular payroll cycle" | Pick a different check date for the off-cycle run, or use a regular run for this date instead |
| Can't edit a run anymore | An in-review run goes back to draft with Edit payroll (back to draft) on its Payroll Summary. Past In review, a run can't be edited; once it's paid, create an Amendment |
| A payee won't add to the run | See their reason and link in the panel above the table. Under Ready to add, use their Add, or Add all for two or more. If the add is refused, follow the notice: a payee may no longer be ready, or taxes may still be calculating |
Next Steps
See Payroll States for status management details, or review Amendment Runs for correction procedures.
Vendors & Contractors
Working the Vendors & Contractors step of a payroll run
Physical Checks
Paper checks for payees paid by check. Print them yourself from our tax partner's PDFs, or have us print and mail them. Either way Greenroom numbers each check and matches it against our tax partner's record first