Payroll Vent

I work for a variety of employers depending on what city and venue I'm in. This is nothing new, been doing it for 13 years. One major university I work for pays on Tuesdays (who knows why). Payroll does not mail checks, they interoffice mail them to the department you worked for, and the department mails them out. I'm about 60 miles away, and my check always comes on Thursday. Consequently, I wrote a check on Wednesday knowing my money would be there before it could get to my bank.

Not this week! Yesterday I get the mail...no check. :confused Well, stuff happens. Today I get the mail...no check! :mad I call them, and only then do they discover the guy who usually mails them has been sick, and the guy he told to mail them "forgot" before he left for vacation THIS MORNING.

I just drove 60 miles one way to pick up my check. :mad :mad :mad They were planning to drop the rest of them in the mail after 5pm tonight, and it maybe would've gotten here Monday, more likely Tuesday. I'm out $20 in gas plus $25 for the bounced check. Not only that, but I had to convince my bank that even though I was overdrawn they really needed to give me a little money since I used my last quarter-tank of gas driving to pick up my check, and the money won't be available from the deposit until Monday.

Now, the $25 bounced check fee is totally my fault and I know that, but for the first time in thirteen years they "forgot" to mail PAYCHECKS! What kind of horse manure is that?

 

Over here there is a system in place whereby if your pay goes into your bank account late, or isn't the amount you were due, any bank charges incurred through non payment of bills are paid by your employer. Don't know the deal over there. Could be worth looking into.

 

Nope...we have nothing like that. In fact, another university I work for will only mail checks if you provide them with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. rolleyes The reasoning is that checks are available to be picked up, and it's not their fault that you don't have an office on campus with an inbox for them to put it in. rolleyes

 

Can you get your pay put straight into a bank account over there?

 

I can, and now I will. Guess I needed to get burned before I remembered the stove was hot.

 

Good to see that it doesn't take more than once.

 

I know (at least in PA) and probably where you are, there are laws about when pay day is, and what is to happen. If you have an established pay day with your employer as Tuesday, they would be liable for not paying you on that day. I'll look for the thing I printed out and laid on the desk of my payroll department not long ago, quite a stink, never a problem again though. Will post link later.

Found it.

Hope it helps..

 

This does not apply if you are an Independent Contractor.....

 

I updated my post.

That was too vague a statement, are you saying that because you're an independent contractor, the company that issues your paycheck is able to sit on an entire payroll indefinitely because someone was sick, and they neglected to notice? I mean, you might have kited a check or two, but they ran a whole company on money that didn't belong to them when it comes down to it. If they tell you that you're going to be paid on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.. I don't care if you're supposed to be paid on Monderday, that money is yours. Do you think if the company was supposed to appear in court today, and the person that went and got the mail was sick, so they never got the notice to attend the hearing, that anyone would care? If you've been there 13 years, it wouldn't hurt to explain that the error they made cost you $50 and you'd like it taken care of. If I wasn't paid, I wouldn't come to work until I was. LOL

 

Here in WV they wouldn't care if you came back or not. Jobs are so scarce that they would find somebody else in 1-2 days.

 

It's illegal not to pay someone when you hire them, tell them how much, and when they're going to get paid. Slavery ended with the civil war.

 

In the UK if any employer keeps payments that are rightfully yours with no decent explanation, they are liable and could be taken to industrial tribunal.
I make sure all my trade union fees are paid and fully up to date as the unions provide free legal advice and will fight for you in the event of this type of thing happening.

 

yep, i've had direct deposit at all my jobs since it became available...I cant remember the last time i've been inside the bank...tho it does help, that my wife works there

 

It's not that they didn't pay, it's that they didn't mail the checks. Payday was Tuesday, and they issued the check. Tuesday morning I went to the webcheck section of their website and saw the check, I just didn't get it until I drove to pick it up. They're not technically breaking the law by not mailing it (trust me...I not only work through a union hiring hall, I sat at the table while we were negotiating with them...if they were, we'd be all over it).

Like I said, another major university I work for (also through the union, but a different local) doesn't mail checks unless you provide an SASE. It's one of their money-saving efforts that's paying off big time.

And yes, I could easily refuse to work there (they account for maybe 1/16 of my income every year), but it wouldn't matter a bit. Not only are we in Michigan where unemployment is approximately 4% above the national average, my union's referral list is something like 400 people. The only people who would notice or care are the ones who have become friends over the years. I have refused to work at one venue (a community college darn near to Chicago from here) due to another problem entirely, and it took almost two years for anyone to notice.

 

I see where you're coming from. If you would have driven to the office, you would have been paid on time. You're right. What I was talking about was our pay roll person missing work the day she was supposed to write checks, and no one got paid until she was better, and came in to work, albeit just the next day.