Direct Deposit Enrollment

Human Resources Manager · September 2002

We in HR, Accounting, and Payroll have just been notified that we are contractually obligated to institute direct deposit for some of our employees by Oct. 1 SURPRISE! x:o (This contract was negotiated in 1999). We do our payroll in house, and have nothing in place to enable direct deposit. Does anyone have a copy of a Direct Deposit enrollment form that you could e-mail (KristaDenn@dl-inc.com) or FAX (651-631-5958)?

Thank You!

Peyton Irby MS · September 2002

the best source is probably one of the banks in your area that employees use. they should have a generic form.

Don D · September 2002

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-19-02 AT 12:33PM (CST)[/font][p]Peyton is right on! We went to salaried direct deposit a year ago and the local bank that is our main company depository (or is it repository) jumped on it with both feet, came to our offices, laid the program out, provided the forms and greased all the right wheels. Of course the benefit to them was that all the bi-monthly deposit passed through them lump sum. Then they would route it wherever the ee selected. I was surprised that the money passing through them would be that much benefit to them. But, what do I know...they are the ones with the new buildings on every corner. Sounds as if you have a union and you say this was a surprise? Your HR Manager should either have been in the negotiations or should know the contract. x:-) This deadline may be problematic for you. The bank here required (suggested) almost a two month series of dry runs to be sure all was in order.

Human Resources Manager · September 2002

The HR person who was here was the contract was negotiated has left the company, and since I have taken over, I have not had time to read the entire contract. It applies to probably less than 20% of our employees. The president and CFO who were aware the deadline was looming, are not crazy about offering direct deposit, so I guess they were hoping that if they ignored it, it would go away. What do they care? They're not the ones who have to implement it! #-o

Gary Jiles AR · September 2002

>We in HR, Accounting, and Payroll have just been notified that we are
>contractually obligated to institute direct deposit for some of our
>employees by Oct. 1 SURPRISE! x:o (This contract was negotiated in
>1999). We do our payroll in house, and have nothing in place to
>enable direct deposit. Does anyone have a copy of a Direct Deposit
>enrollment form that you could e-mail (KristaDenn@dl-inc.com) or FAX
>(651-631-5958)?
>
>Thank You!

In Arkansas, you cannot require employees to use direct deposit. Under Arkansas law, an employee can demand to be paid in cash.

Gary D. Jiles, Esq.
Editor
Arkansas Employment Law Letter
JACK, LYON & JONES, P.A.
3400 TCBY Tower
425 West Capitol Avenue
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
(501) 375-1122
E-mail: [email]gdj@jlj.com[/email]

Don D · September 2002

Gary: It seems the issue would be that this was a negotiation item and the contract was obviously ratified by those in the bargaining unit. Therefore, they agreed to it. Your thoughts?

Human Resources Manager · September 2002

We are not requiring employees to use direct deposit, we are required to make it available to them. The actual language in the contract states: "The Employer agrees to implement direct deposit for payroll checks, prior to October 1, 2002, for any employee who has duly authorized the Employer to do so." Now our concern is when the employees who aren't covered under the working agreement find out that the union drivers get direct deposit, they will all want it too.x:'(

Jessica · September 2002

If you have to implement in October, the pre-notification pay periods (or dry runs you were referring to) can probably fall after the October deadline because part of using direct deposit is knowing that the first paycheck after signing up is still a live check because of the required prenotification.

We are a credit union and our employees still have to have the pre-notification pay period even if they are depositing to us because once something goes wrong with a direct deposit it can take weeks or months to sort out where the money went and how to get it back.

Maybe that could buy you a little more time since you could incorporate that extension in your set up process.

Good luck!

KDowney · September 2002

In addition to contacting your company's bank, you might want to check out the following websites:

[url]www.directdeposit.org[/url]
[url]www.nacha.org[/url]

Some sample direct deposit authorization forms can be found at:

[url]http://www.directdeposit.org/ddflyer.pdf[/url]
[url]http://www.payroll-connect.com/Forms/PDFFiles/DirectDeposit.pdf[/url]
[url]http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/drctdp_m.asp[/url]
[url]http://www.univco.cornell.edu/payroll/dd.pdf[/url]

Theresa Gegen TX · September 2002

I think you will find that direct deposit is easier and faster than cutting checks once it is implemented.

You may decide that you want to offer it to all employees (not just those in the bargaining unit), once you start using it.

The only thing I would make sure that the paperwork has on it (which I am sure all forms do as a matter of course), it the right for the company to correct overpayments, if they occur.

Good Luck!!

AnneLa · September 2002

Don't forget to contact your local credit union too. They offer excellent customer service and will do the actual employee enrollment for you..........

Direct Deposit Enrollment

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