diff --git a/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.test.tsx b/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.test.tsx
index bb255e77e..be7172666 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.test.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,48 @@
 import { EmailOutboxCreatedWith } from "@/generated/prisma/client";
 import { globalPrismaClient } from "@/prisma-client";
-import { afterAll, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { afterAll, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { _forTesting } from "./email-queue-step";
 import { DEFAULT_BRANCH_ID, getSoleTenancyFromProjectBranch } from "./tenancies";
 
-const { failEmailsStuckInSending, STUCK_EMAIL_TIMEOUT_MS } = _forTesting;
+const { failEmailsStuckInSending, STUCK_EMAIL_TIMEOUT_MS, updateLastExecutionTime } = _forTesting;
+
+describe.sequential("updateLastExecutionTime", () => {
+  const metadataKeys: string[] = [];
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    await globalPrismaClient.emailOutboxProcessingMetadata.deleteMany({
+      where: { key: { in: metadataKeys } },
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("does not move lastExecutedAt backwards when the stored timestamp is ahead", async () => {
+    const key = `email-queue-step-delta-test-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(36).slice(2, 8)}`;
+    metadataKeys.push(key);
+
+    const futureTimestamp = new Date(Date.now() + 60_000);
+    await globalPrismaClient.emailOutboxProcessingMetadata.create({
+      data: {
+        key,
+        lastExecutedAt: futureTimestamp,
+      },
+    });
+
+    const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(console, "warn").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    try {
+      const delta = await updateLastExecutionTime(key);
+
+      expect(delta).toBe(0);
+      expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+
+      const after = await globalPrismaClient.emailOutboxProcessingMetadata.findUniqueOrThrow({
+        where: { key },
+      });
+      expect(after.lastExecutedAt?.toISOString()).toBe(futureTimestamp.toISOString());
+    } finally {
+      warnSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+});
 
 // These tests connect to the real dev DB (like payments.test.tsx) and create real EmailOutbox
 // rows against the seeded `internal` tenancy. Each row is tagged with a unique tsxSource so we
diff --git a/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.tsx b/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.tsx
index f9584c1cc..3b73e1478 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.tsx
+++ b/apps/backend/src/lib/email-queue-step.tsx
@@ -203,32 +203,40 @@ async function failEmailsStuckInSending(additionalWhere?: Prisma.EmailOutboxWher
 export const _forTesting = {
   failEmailsStuckInSending,
   STUCK_EMAIL_TIMEOUT_MS,
+  updateLastExecutionTime,
 };
 
-async function updateLastExecutionTime(): Promise<number> {
-  const key = "EMAIL_QUEUE_METADATA_KEY";
-
+async function updateLastExecutionTime(key = "EMAIL_QUEUE_METADATA_KEY"): Promise<number> {
   // This query atomically claims the next execution slot and returns the delta.
-  // It uses FOR UPDATE to lock the row, preventing concurrent workers from reading
-  // the same previous timestamp. The pattern is:
+  // It uses FOR UPDATE to lock the row, preventing concurrent workers from reading the
+  // same previous timestamp. Use clock_timestamp(), not NOW(): NOW() is fixed at the
+  // transaction start, so a transaction that started earlier but acquired the row lock
+  // later could otherwise move lastExecutedAt backwards by a few milliseconds.
+  // The pattern is:
   // 1. Try UPDATE first (locks row with FOR UPDATE, returns old and new timestamps)
   // 2. If no row exists, INSERT (with ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING for race handling)
   // 3. Compute delta based on the result
   const [{ delta }] = await globalPrismaClient.$queryRaw<{ delta: number }[]>`
-    WITH now_ts AS (
-      SELECT NOW() AS now
-    ),
-    do_update AS (
+    WITH do_update AS (
       -- Update existing row, locking it first and capturing the old timestamp
       UPDATE "EmailOutboxProcessingMetadata" AS m
       SET 
-        "updatedAt" = (SELECT now FROM now_ts),
-        "lastExecutedAt" = (SELECT now FROM now_ts)
+        "updatedAt" = old.next_timestamp,
+        "lastExecutedAt" = old.next_timestamp
       FROM (
-        SELECT "key", "lastExecutedAt" AS previous_timestamp
-      FROM "EmailOutboxProcessingMetadata"
-      WHERE "key" = ${key}
-        FOR UPDATE
+        SELECT
+          locked."key",
+          locked."lastExecutedAt" AS previous_timestamp,
+          GREATEST(locked.observed_timestamp, COALESCE(locked."lastExecutedAt", locked.observed_timestamp)) AS next_timestamp
+        FROM (
+          SELECT
+            "key",
+            "lastExecutedAt",
+            clock_timestamp()::timestamp(3) AS observed_timestamp
+          FROM "EmailOutboxProcessingMetadata"
+          WHERE "key" = ${key}
+            FOR UPDATE
+        ) AS locked
       ) AS old
       WHERE m."key" = old."key"
       RETURNING old.previous_timestamp, m."lastExecutedAt" AS new_timestamp
@@ -236,7 +244,8 @@ async function updateLastExecutionTime(): Promise<number> {
     do_insert AS (
       -- Insert new row if no existing row was updated
       INSERT INTO "EmailOutboxProcessingMetadata" ("key", "lastExecutedAt", "updatedAt")
-      SELECT ${key}, (SELECT now FROM now_ts), (SELECT now FROM now_ts)
+      SELECT ${key}, observed_timestamp, observed_timestamp
+      FROM (SELECT clock_timestamp()::timestamp(3) AS observed_timestamp) AS now_ts
       WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM do_update)
       ON CONFLICT ("key") DO NOTHING
       RETURNING NULL::timestamp AS previous_timestamp, "lastExecutedAt" AS new_timestamp
@@ -261,8 +270,7 @@ async function updateLastExecutionTime(): Promise<number> {
   `;
 
   if (delta < 0) {
-    // TODO: why does this happen, actually? investigate.
-    console.warn("Email queue step delta is negative. Not sure why it happened. Ignoring the delta. TODO investigate", { delta });
+    console.warn("Email queue step delta is negative after monotonic timestamp update; ignoring the delta so the send quota cannot go negative", { delta });
     return 0;
   }