PBJ Error -4025: More Than 22.5 Hours for One Employee on One Date
Published October 5, 2026
Error -4025 is the 22.5-hour rule for a single employee ID. The PBJ Policy Manual limits hours to 22.5 per employee ID per day. With data specifications v4.10.0, the system started rejecting anything over it.
What the error says
The total number of hours by an employee for a single date must be less than or equal to 22.50. This total includes the sum of all hours across all jobTitleCodes for the specified date.
- Severity: Fatal. The record is rejected and has to be fixed and sent again.
- In the iQIES error list since: April 1, 2026 (CMS announced enforcement from March 22, 2026, with specifications v4.10.0).
What triggers it
- One employee ID has hours under two or more job titles on the same date, and together they pass 22.5.
- Or this file, added to hours already submitted for that ID and date, passes 22.5.
Places to look: a shift that crosses midnight recorded on one date, a duplicate punch, or the same hours exported under two job titles.
How to fix it
- Find the employee ID and date on the Final Validation Report.
- Add up every job title's hours for that ID on that date, in this file and in earlier submissions.
- Fix the source data: split overnight shifts by date, remove duplicates, put hours under the right job title.
- Export again and resubmit.
Each single hours entry also has to be from 0 to 22.5 with at most two decimals. A single entry over 22.5 is a different error, -3679.
Check the whole file before the November 14 quarterly deadline. The PBJ Staffing Data Pre-Submission QA checks your XML against the CMS v4.10.0 specifications and the staffing patterns CMS has named as audit or rating risks, before you upload to iQIES. $25.00 per report, with a free test on the page. Check a PBJ file
The QA flags any employee ID over 22.5 hours on a date inside your file, across all job titles. It cannot see hours you already submitted. A PASS is not CMS acceptance: iQIES runs its own checks and has the final word.
More PBJ help
- Free PBJ pre-flight checks: zero-RN days and meal break deductions
- PBJ Error -1025: The 22.5-Hour Limit Across Linked Employee IDs
- PBJ Error -3679: A Number Outside the Allowed Range
- PBJ Error -3676: A Code That Is Not on the CMS List
- PBJ Error -4016: Employee ID Not Found in the PBJ System
Sources: the iQIES PBJ Error Messages list (CMS, July 2026), the CMS PBJ data specifications v4.10.0 and Policy Manual, and the QTSO notice that PBJ is live in iQIES. SpreadRun is not affiliated with or endorsed by CMS. This is general information, not legal or compliance advice.