Are a pay week and a work week legally the same?

Not sure exactly what you mean, but this is kind of the way it works:

To the best of my knowledge, every state in the U.S. has a Payday Law that requires all (hourly paid) workers to be paid at least twice a month (not every 2 weeks).

Generally speaking, the Payday Law does NOT apply to people who are paid by salary or commission. Also, it doesn’t apply to government workers, some professional workers, etc. It basically applies to hourly workers only, and there are some exceptions to that.

Almost all businesses pay twice a month and the paychecks are issued at the end of the second pay period. For example:

Pay period: Nov.1st to 15th. Payday would be Nov. 30th.

Pay period: Nov. 16th to 30th. Payday would be Dec. 15th.

Pay period: Dec. 1st to 15th. Payday would be Dec. 31st.

Pay period: Dec. 16th to 31st. Payday would be Jan. 15th.

This is only an example. The pay periods would be from the 5th to the 20th or some other schedule, but it’s always going to be 15 days in a pay period. On months that have a 31st, there would be 16 days in a pay period. Overtime pay would only be paid if the employee worked more than 40 hours in week.

There is always going to be a 15 day lag as it takes the payroll clerk a lot of time to figure out the payroll and prepare the paychecks.

If you don’t understand how it works at your place of employment, ask your manager to explain it to you.