Keep Paycheck Stubs

swynia

I have employees who choose not to keep their paycheck stubs (for whatever reason). So every once in a while an employee will call up and need a copy of a check or copies for a couple of consecutive weeks for some reason. This will happen a couple of times a month and with one or two paycheck stubs, I don't have a problem providing it for them.

I just had an employee call and tell me that he needed copies of all paycheck stubs since he had been hired (which was the end of 2005). When I asked him where is checks stubs were, he told me that he doesn't keep them, he just throws them in the garbage each week.

I tell my employees when they call for requests like this that they should be keeping the check stubs for 7 years incase of an IRS audit. The employee today, when I had told him it would be in his best interest to keep this stuff, told me 'That is what an HR Dept. is for.'

So needless to say, I'm not pleased. Do you have this type of problem/issue with employees? What kinds of things would help me deal with something like this, or is this just 'part of the job'?

dixied

I don't see any reason to retain check stubs for 7 years. You have your W-2 each year.
We have employees request a copy of a check stub every so often. I would inquire the reason why your EE needs his since his hire date. Could you just provide totals?

mwild31

Hi swynia

It's irritating, but it happens. You can't force anyone to keep their paperwork, so if they request copies, give 'em the copies & be done with it.

Dutch2

Same here.... we don't have copies of their paycheck stubs, so we make a copy of their data from our register for that particular pay period. Normally doesn't happen very often. Usually for someone needing to show proof of income for assisted living in one form or another. Just another way HR constantly helps out our employees...

stilldazed

Agree with prior posters that it is really just part of the job. Look at the bright side--if there were such nuisances in your job, you might not appreciate the positives so much. There are folks in your company's employee who have such a learned dependency that you may wonder how they actually function as an adult.

We do provide copies of checks on request (but no more than 3 years back) and we have quite a few who will ask for them for DCF interviews for social assistance. To help myself and my staff deal with the nuisance of the worker's disorganization, we do consider the requests low priority, never issue the copies on the date of the request, and require the worker to invest the effort of walking back into the department to pick up the documents. We adopted that approach about 3 years ago, and many of the prior 'learned dependents' eventually learned relying less on my staff to cover their personal gaps was more convenient for them. In other words, word got around that their crises did not create emergency situations on my staff's part.

Best wishes,

HRQ

We have been inundated with check stub requests: several per week, sometimes employees request several months' worth.

Our payroll system can't reprint check stubs, so my assistant has to dig through boxes to locate individual stubs. She pays approx 650 employees biweekly, and searching for stubs is time consuming. We provide the employees with check stubs on payday and it's their responsibility to retain them.

In our monthly employee newsletter we've been adding reminders (nicely worded) that it's in every employee's best interest to retain their own copies of check stubs and W-2's.

We recently started charging, yes charging, employees a "records retrieval fee" for duplicate stubs or duplicate W-2's. We've waived the fee for first time requests, and gently reminded staff to please keep their own copies.

I realize we may sound "jerky" for charging for stubs when others on the Forum seems to see it as just part of the job, but we could not continue at that pace without adding staff or letting more important tasks suffer. We certainly aren't making a profit with the fees, nor do we wish to, but this has helped the employees remember they need to retain their own records and the requests have slowed dramatically.

Curious to see how others have handled this without just giving them duplicates every time they ask...

And while I'm at it, there's nothing illegal about charging the records retrieval fee for duplicates since we already provided them with the first copy, is there?

Wildsporty

We give them copies of their stubs. I have a small workforce, so I keep a copy for HR in a data folder each payday.

I am looking at the new self service modules where the stub is sent to the employee electronically and they can go in , type in their information and access their files. They are allowed to print their own stubs.

I have never used such a system and I am a little worried about security. Has anyone had any experience with these types of systems?

Shirley

Dutch2

Does eveyone have access to a confidential printer? If I print my check stub, will I be the first one to the printer to pick it up?

Irie

I would think that's just the chance you would have to take if you want to print your stubs that way. Not a bad idea though to make it self-service.

Rockie

There is no legal obligation for HR to furnish check stubs for employees multiple times. If an HR department wants to do this as a "service", and they have the time, that is there perogative. We can pull up totals by pay period for employees, but don't furnish duplicate pay stubs.

If we have a Wage and Hour audit, we only have to go back three years with time records which are kept electronically.