Sometimes the shenanigans that come up in an episode of Stargate make me wonder about SGC HR and payroll.
Like, okay, so in Holiday Machello body-swaps with Daniel and then goes out and buys lunch for a bunch of random people in a diner. With Daniel's credit card. Now, I mean, maybe you can just call up the credit card company and say, "I didn't authorize this purchase," but if it was a large purchase, and it seems it probably was, the diner will probably challenge the chargeback, and they almost certainly have Daniel on camera. So like, how is this handled? Does Daniel just have to eat the cost? Budgeting for his credit card bill while cursing Machello for stealing his body and $500 worth of milkshakes? Or does the SGC have like. Insurance. For that sort of thing. Given the nature of the Goa'uld it's not unreasonable. $10 per paycheck and if your body gets hijacked by some kind of alien malevolence and spends all your money the Air Force will just quietly settle the bill in the event you survive and get your body back.
In A Matter of Time most of the SGC experiences a single day, but outside, two weeks go by due to the time dilation effects of the black hole. Some scrooge in payroll is patting themselves on the back for months for managing to successfully argue that everyone inside the mountain should only be paid for the time they actually experienced working, instead of the full two weeks of real time that they were at work. They severely regret it when Window of Opportunity rolls around and Jack and Teal'c scrape together the evidence that they experienced work for 2,160 hours in a single day.
As a manager of large, global HR and payroll departments, I also pondered the question of how to pay Jack in A Matter of Time, where one work day took two weeks, and in Window of Opportunity where he worked for thousands of hours in a time loop.
An aside - I have no idea how payroll works in the US Air Force so I am going on what decisions I would make.
First off Jack is very likely salaried exempt (US payroll speak for not eligable for overtime) as he is in a leadership position and seemingly has no fixed hours.
I would have made the decision to pay Jack for two weeks salary during that one shift in Matter of Time, because first, he is salaried, and second, policies encourage behaviours, and we would want staff to volunteer for dangerous missions, such as staying in the mountain when there is a black hole, without being financially penalised for the whole time dilation thing.
Consistent with this, and being exempt, Jack wouldn't be eligible for overtime in Window of Opportunity. I was thinking of a one-off bonus for the extra work, but what about other people who, for example, get stuck off-world for longer than planned? They could also argue to be eligible for bonuses, and payroll costs could spiral. Maybe some long paid PTO.
But in general, their payroll would be a nightmare and God only knows what workers comp would look like, but I would still 100% take the job π
And on the Daniel question, given he is a government contractor, he would definitely be able to expense his credit card bill after Holiday.
If anyone does knows how payroll in the Air Force works, let me know, just because I am a nerd and would be interested.
Interesting stuff! Iβd also love to know how all the βback officeβ departments deal with the strange things that happen at the SGC. Could have been a fun βLower Decksβ type episode where the finance team is trying to carry out the quarterly budget review, but keeps being inconvenienced by the latest βaliens trying to invade earthβ nonsense.
Also, a friendly reminder that payroll departments don't make policy decisions about how staff are paid. They just process it, make sure all your deductions and earnings are accounted for, and deal with the tax authorities (IRS in US, HMRC in the UK, etc) and which ever other government department is interested. Be kind to the people who make sure you get paid correctly π
