Late submission of time to payroll

PJJ · January 2003

I was on vacation and turned in an employees hours to payroll a few hours late. Payroll did not notify me that they would not pay my employee the overtime or year end payout until the next pay period (We are paid the 1st and 15th each month). Discovered upon payment that they issued a straight 40hr check. I asked payroll dept. if they could issue a manual check and I was told NO! I went to the General Manager who also requested a manual check be cut & he was told NO, employee would have to wait until the 31st. Is this legal? Even if it is, I question the ethics of this decision. (If this was a constant problem I might understand but late submission has only happened twice in 4 years!) Please help!

Pork · January 2003

PJJ: It reads to me like you have unfortunately gotten caught up in a year-end or month end account closeout situation. It usually doesn't have anything to do with legal or not it is an accounting night mare to deal with cutting a check during these very difficult periods of time in the accounting world.

If I was your General Manager, I believe I could get a check cut. There are ways to in the accounting world to take care of this type problem, however, I would ask you: is your need for this money so great right now, that you would ask your General Manager to make it happen. Or could you be a team player and let the accounting department close out last year and finish their audit process, as long as you know that you'll get your money? Remember you caused your own problem!

Pork

PJJ · January 2003

Reply to Pork.. The money is not for me, it is for my employee. I agree I created the problem, however, I feel responsible to go to bat for a good employee. I am a team player and understand accounting practices. If this was habitual on my part, I would understand why my request would be denied. I also understand the importance of good employee relations. If this check was for me, I'd bite the bullet.

Anita · January 2003

I think the employee should be paid NOW!

As far as I am concerned this should not be that big of a problem for accounting whether its any day, month end or year end. They can type a manual check and just journal entry it in later, or however they want to handle this.

I work in accounting and payroll and this has never been a problem for me, either at this job or the last job I had.

It sounds to me like someone just wants to show they are in control and that you can't make me do this if I don't want to x:-(

Maybe I'm just having a bad day and everything is irrating me, guess I will go sit in the corner and be quiet for awhile xx(

Rockie · January 2003

If the employee was the one who failed to properly turn in his hours, I would say it was perfectly legal to wait until the next pay period to pay them; given this was the fault of the supervisor (company), then the employee should have a manual check cut immediately.

I can't believe that your finance deparment would have the moxy to tell the General Manager they would NOT cut a manual check.

LindaS · January 2003

Is your payroll done in house or is it oursourced? If it is outsourced it can be more difficult to have a manual check run but if it is done in house, there should be no reason not to run the manual check.

I used to process payroll for over 500 employees and often had to run these checks due to a variety of reasons. If the amount the employee was shorted was small (i.e., 5-20 dollars) the employee usually waited until the next paydate but this was always something that was agreed upon with the affected employee. Any amounts over $50.00 we ALWAYS ran a manual check. It didn't take long and the morale of the employee was always boosted.

Hope this helps!

MS HR · January 2003

Certain state laws require the payment of wages within a certain time frame. For instance in my state, all earned wages must be paid within 30 days.
You might want to check with your state's wage and hour people.

Lori B · January 2003

I think Pork hit it on the head first. If you have never processed payroll, then you have no idea of the nightmares created at quarterend/yearend. If you use an outside payroll service, they charge an arm and a leg for payroll adjustments. Do not assume that checks are generated by payroll fairies on demand...basic protocal and timing exists for reasons you may not be aware.

I actually supervise both payroll and HR functions for my company. We use a general rule that if the ee screwed up on getting their time in, they can wait for the next check. If the company screwed up and it affects more than one day of pay, we will cut the off cycle check. If it is less than a day of pay, we wait.

Off cycle checks drive our accountants nuts b/c they post in our GL in the following month. This throws off monthly profit and loss reports, you name it.
So, my point: until you have walked in the shoes of the payroll administrator who must be accountable to an accurate GL, try to be understanding of their need for rules and guidelines.

Late submission of time to payroll

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