Not paying hours worked at all is legally a big deal. Paying unusual/unpredictable hours late or correct rates late when rates are not predictable are generally not legally a big deal. I am hearing that the situation is not predictable, that someone needs to tell payroll that non-standard hours/rates are occurring, and this is not happening in a timely manner. Correct?
Until 1960s or early 1970s paychecks were often wrong (at first) simply because the technology was not good enough to get it right in real time. Employers routinely paid employees standard hours and standard rates, basically an estimate, then corrected as needed into the next pay period. What is called the "current" method. State law originally allowed for this, and mostly has not been changed. Now lagging the changes more then one payroll tends to be frowned upon but different states handle this differently, and with most states lagging the corrections more then one payroll is not a big deal legally. Federal law requires "timely" payments, but leaves the definition of timely to the states. Plus federal law cares about minimum wage, overtime and very little else. The feds literally do not (normally) care at all about base pay in excess of MW.

