Opening EE paychecks

Tish

Need some help. We are part of a large corp. The location I am at has 155 EEs. We have a EE that enters the hours, vacation, sick time etc into our Kronos system that gets sent to our corp payroll department to get processed. What I would like to know is does this person in payroll have the right to open employee's checks without their permission? We are located in the state of Minnesota if that helps, our corp office is in California.

My concern is protecting the employee's privacy. If there is a question or concern about the employee's pay, it is my suggestion to management that they get the employee's permission prior to opening their check.

Would really like your feedback on this one.

hrbanker

Does the EE in payroll have access to hourly rates or payroll reports? I'm not familiar with Kronos, but our system brings up the hourly rate when we go to input the hours. ...In which case the payroll EE already has access to that information.

Whe does the payroll EE report to? Doesn't payroll report to HR? What does corporate HR say about the situation? They may consider the payroll EE to be their on-site representative and have given the OK to open checks.

Hunter1

Why is payroll opening checks? They should have reports which give them the info they need.

Don D

Our situation is identical; with a corporate office in another state and Kronos pay system with direct deposit optional. Some of the checks come in an envelope on Tuesday for Thursday distribution. Kronos somewhat self-manages the payroll system. The person who keys in over-rides and adjustments gets the checks from me to distribute on payday. She has absolutely no reason to open anything, whether it be a check or a check stub. Each ee gets one or the other, sealed, unopened. If this were happening at my location, I think I would just ask the payroll clerk, "What's with opening the envelopes? There's no reason for you to open them."

Rockie

I agree. I can't see any reason for payroll to be opening employees' paychecks. They have access to all this information. I'd put a stop to this practice as employees may see it as an invasion of privacy being that this information is in a sealed envelope with their name on it.

Tish

We have a tricky situation here. The payroll clerk answers to the office manager instead of HR, my HR Director and myself would like to have this changed so she falls under HR but here is the kicker - the office manager is the payroll clerk's mother. The office manager answers to our location GM and they are very close. Do you get the picture? If anything ruffles either EE's feathers it is well known that it won't be comfortable for that person, which is where I fall at right now with this situation.

I tried to explain to the GM, office manager, payroll clerk that they need to be aware of EE privacy - I recommended that they get the EE's permission prior to opening their checks and a bomb went off.

The payroll clerk does not have ready access to hourly wages etc.

Thank you for your support. I know in my position in HR sometimes I can only point out the pitfalls, document my recommendations and move on to the next fire.

Don D

...and depending on how your office functions, this person may well have no knowledge of things like garnishments and snooping through the pay envelope would satisfy that curiosity. It might also allow her to check to see what amount of raise an individual got. In our case the payroll clerk only has access to the screen that contains current hours, vacation, etc...things that would enable her to audit and correct current weekly pay. She has no access to other HRIS data.

Tish

Don,

Same here, the EE doesn't have access to this stuff. To make matters even more complicated her husband works out on the floor. He comes into the office many days and sits at her desk for breaks and lunch. As posted earlier, her mother is her manager. Not good anyway you look at it.

SMace

I still don't understand why she is opening checks. Did I miss the answer? Be sure to focus on the behavior. Do not get into the soap opera. Give the business necessity behind changing the behavior and discipline if she continues. Recommend that to the GM and get agreement and move on. Good luck.

Tish

SMace

the employee received 2 checks one to direct deposit, one regular check which sparked her "concern". I explained to EE and her manager that there could be several reasons why he received 2 checks that they should not take it upon themselves to just open the checks without the employee's permission. This is an on going issue with them and has happened numerous times. I have explained to GM & manager that this is a privacy issue and could cause some concerns and issues, not much support from either. Again, I learned in the past concerning this area, my best bet is that I recommend, educate on why, the possible results, documenting and moving to the next issue.

SMace

You are between a rock and a hard place. You could ask the GM if he is OK with her opening his check without his authorization. When he says no, ask him why and there is your answer. The hourly people may feel the same way. Am I right that the person that does the payroll opened his check? Should she not know why he has two checks? Someone has to know. Why couldn't she just ask that person? Just trying to give you some ammo. It probably will not work, but thought I'd give it a shot.

Crout

Tish, I think you're right. Point it out, document that you've done so and move on quickly before they get a bead on you. Let me guess...her uncle's also the CFO, right?

Dutch2

Agree with the others. I would hold fast to the "business necessity" reasons. What is the business reason that this person has that causes her to open the checks of other employees? If it is not for business necessity, then she is just being nosey and has no business doing so!
Good luck with the mom and daughter situation.
Dutch2