Delay payroll 48 hours

J9JC

We are a small company and our payroll person will be on vacation the week of July 3-8. We had planned to pay on the 3rd with time cards coming in on the 30th. Commisions will not be done till the end of the day on the 30th so it would delay payroll until the 5th. Our Payroll person wants to know if this is ok.

I am not sure legally to be honest, but I see it as a bad move since only a few get comission and there are several that are on vacation that week also who may want thier money while on vacation. We published the 3rd as our payroll day on the yearly sheet. Should we just pay the normal time and let the commissions be on the 5th? No one is commission only.

SMace

Can someone cover for her? Someone has got to be able to cover for her. What if she gets hit by bus?

Legal or not, I would not change the pay date.

(short prayer that she doesn't get hit by a bus, cause you'll blame me for bad mojo.)

marc

If I could not pay on time, I would consider paying early. Run the payroll before she leaves and hold onto the checks. You can always adjust estimates to actual on the next paycheck.

lnelson

I concur with marc. I am the only one who does payroll at my co and I will usually do it before I leave for vacation. If any problems come up they will need to wait until next payroll cycle.

pork1

I also agree with Marc. Messing with one's pay (compensation) will land the company in to troubled waters more quickly than any other compensation issue. Announce to the employees what you are doing and let them know how the adjustments will be handled.

Richard

E Wart

There are a lot of questions here. First, CA is one of those states that REQUIRE you to post your pay days. (For example... we pay weekly (a week in arrears since hourly invovled) and our weekly pay day is Friday. Therefore, we must get our checks to our employees by Friday. Normally our checks are given out on Thursday, but if they are late or if there is a holiday on Thursday, they would get them on Friday and still be ok.) So,
1. What does your "Paydate Poster" say? If you don't have one up, you better get moving! (You said you "published the 3rd as our payroll day on the yearly sheet". What does this mean?)
2. Do you pay weekly, bi weekly, monthly, on the 1st and 15th, on the 15th and 30th?
3. Are your employees hourly or salaried? Are the employees who get commission paid entirely by commission or do they receive a "regular paycheck" and then get commission once a month?
4. How is your payroll processed? Do you do it in house or use a service? (ADP, Ceridian, Paycheck, etc.?)

Based on the information you have provided, I would go ahead and process checks as you would "normally" putting in the hours and generate them for the 3rd, if that is your scheduled, normal, paydate. If the hold up is commissions, and you have folks on commission that get regular paychecks so that they would receive something... I would either try to estimate their commissions, being concervative, and then correct it the next pay period, or tell them that this is not their "normal pay" and will be included in their next check. I would not change the "normal routine". You could also run an additional payroll or give advances to employees the week of the 3rd if you didn't get the commission in on the 30th. Then clear it out on the next payroll run.
Now, giving employees checks before the regular pay date ("there are several that are on vacation that week also who may want thier money while on vacation")... If they are on vacation, how will they get their check? I wouldn't not give out before paydate. However, if they have automatic deposit it will be in their account on the 3rd no matter if they are on vacation.
5. I know with a small company it is hard to cross train... but for the good of the company (and your payroll person), I urge you to do some cross training in this area. What if she decides not to return after her vacation? Some type of alternate arrangements need to be considered.

Sorry this is so long, but lots of "unanswered questions".

E Wart

NaeNae55

I am the only one to do payroll here too. When I am going to be gone, I do payroll early. A memo goes out to all employees telling them to estimate their time (if necessary) and we adjust for it the following pay period.

We pay commissions here too, but only once per month (on the 2nd paycheck). It hasn't come up yet, but if I was unable to calculate the commissions for a payroll that had to be paid early I would do one of two things:

1) Calculate commissions on a short month (ie cut it off on the 25th, and add the 26th through the 30th to the next month).

2) Look at prior months and determine an average commission amount. I would pay that, and then make the adjustment on the next month.


Good luck!


Nae

HCCADC

I agree with Nae, I wouldn't delay. I would pay commissions on an average and then adjust with the next pay period. Have a good day!

Rockie

I would not even think about delaying payroll. If you have to...do it early.

It is a dangerous thing to have only one person who can do payroll. We are in the process of hiring another person as backup. Our payroll coordinator recently had a death in her immediate family on a payroll week and guess what? She had to come in anyway and do payroll. This was not a pleasant thing when your mind was on your family and you were grieving. It would be even worse if an individual had to have emergency surgery or got into an accident. How would people be paid? The DOL would not be interested in excuses and would put the burden back on the employer as to why employees did not get paid for work performed during the specified time.