Paycheck Distribution

mistytee · November 2002

Does paychecks have to be given to an employee on the scheduled pay day? Our company receives paychecks from our parent company the day before payday. Our overnight mail costs are through the roof because we want to make sure that our employees receive their checks on time. In a effort to cut down on the costs of sending paychecks via an overnight mail carrier, we would like to send the checks regular mail. 95% of our workforce uses direct deposit but we have those other 5% want checks. Can we legally send those checks regular mail, guaranteeing that the 5% will not get their checks on pay day?

Lola815 · November 2002

I hope so...that is what we do. We only have a few people that don't work in the main office, and they have auto deposit, but we just mail them out in regular mail. Maybe you could overnight the checks only and send out all auto deposits by regular mail. Just a thought...

good luck!

pecohr · November 2002

One of the first things I learned in HR was don't mess with peoples paychecks. I would take whatever steps were necessary to get their checks to them when they are expected or be prepared to deal with a hugh moral issue and a very vocal 5%... just my .02 cents

Balloonman · November 2002

We recently went to direct deposit. In doing so we had to change the day and how we paid everyone. People were informed 6 weeks in advance, if you did not sign up for direct deposit, your paychecks would be mailed to you. We also let them know that we would not allow them to come by and pick up their check at the office, as they would have to leave the job site early to do this many times. Thursday is payday, checks go out first thing in Wednesdays mail. In 6 months we have had 4 occassions that checks did not get delivered by the postal service the next day.
If checks are "lost in the mail" we will cut them a manual check but but they must pay the stop payment fee on their paycheck. So far 3 out of 4 people who have had a check lost in the mail have signed up for direct deposit following the problem. All but one have been good about it, one was very vocal, to the point I instructed him to leave the office and return to work or he would be terminated. His excuse was he was too busy to sign up for direct deposit. Funny though he found the time after he did not get his check to take 5 minutes to fill out the form and turn it in.
I do not require new hires to sign up, but I strongly encourage it, because we want them paid on time. And as we have numerous jobsites that employees maybe switched to we were having issues with the check not finding the employee on payday because they changed jobsites. Direct deposit has solved that and made for a happier workforce. We over communicated the issue and have 90+% on direct deposit now.
Well that is my $0.02 for this topic.

Dutch2 · November 2002

We do not give our employees an option. Everyone is on direct deposit. It is our understanding that as long as you do not mandate which financial instution the employee uses for DD... this is kosher. I previously worked for a large discount retailer that put DD into effect. There was much wailing and moaning at first but after a few pay periods the few usual "complainers" were the only ones we heard from. And they soon gave up. If you do not beleive this to be an option....is there anyway that payroll can be processed a day or two sooner? Make sure the payroll guru at the Home Office understands the opportunities this is casuing for you and probably others too.

Whatever · December 2002

Check with an attorney. The law varies from state to state.

mistytee · December 2002

Thank you to everyone who responded. I have resolved the issue by removing the H.R. Dept. as the middle man in this process. The payroll dept. will mail the earning statements directly to the office locations, leaving us out of the loop. 95% of our employment population is on direct deposit and remaining 5% will be encouraged to sign up.

Paycheck Distribution

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