# Pay items

Pay items are used to define amounts that are added to or subtracted from an employee’s salary or wage in a given pay run. An employee is paid in a pay run by virtue of the Pay items and their associated rates and quantities that are included in the pay run for the employee.

The following can be said about Pay items:

- Each employee may be assigned any number of Pay items
- A Pay item can be assigned more than once to a single employee
- An employee’s Pay items record how much of each type of pay they have been paid for the financial year
- An employee’s Pay items determine which Pay items are added by default to a pay run for that employee
- Each pay run contains a list of Pay items per employee that determines how much of each type of pay is being paid to the employee