Payment of wages

hrbirdie · January 2004

I work in the state of Indiana. My employer pays employees on a weekly basis, every Friday. If an employee reports hours worked for a week and the employer forgets to pay the employee, are we legally allowed to delay payment of wages until the following payweek?
Thanks.
hrbirdie

Rockie · January 2004

Payment of wages is usually state specific, but I can virtually guarantee that if it is the fault of the employer that an employee did not get paid, then the employer should cut a manual check pronto. I would, in no way, shape or form, require the employee to wait.

If the employee makes a mistake...forgets to punch in and out appropriately, etc., I would say in most states, you would be safe to put the additional funds on the next scheduled paycheck. Again, you may want to check your state wage and hour on this.

hrbirdie · January 2004

What if the employee doesn't mind waiting until the next payday? Should we still go ahead and cut the check right away. Happy employees don't always stay happy employees and I wouldn't want this to come back and haunt us later. I agree with you that wages should always be paid right away. Our CFO doesn't agree with me.

HRGirl · January 2004

Cut them the check ASAP. Due not wait. All monies should be paid to an ee on pay day, unless they have been terminated and even then most states require you to pay them with that payroll. If there is an error correct it immediately do not wait until the following pay period.

Brad Forrister · January 2004

Indiana law seems to require payment within 10 days of the performance of the work.
See IN 22-2-5-1 (you can access it behind the password if you're a subscriber.

So if your system is to pay on Friday for work performed the prior week, I'd say you can't delay.

If your system is to pay on Friday for work performed this week, you probably can delay, under this statute.

The thing that troubles me most about this set of facts is the assertion that the employer "forgot" to pay the employee. Yikes! If that's really the case, I'd cut an immediate check regardless of what the law requires.

Brad Forrister
Director of Publishing
M. Lee Smith Publishers

hrbirdie · January 2004

Our pay week is Wednesday to Tuesday. We run payroll in house on Thursday, paychecks go out on Friday. Yes, weird. What happened is this employee's boss forgot to turn in his hours worked to the payroll person so he didn't get paid. So, now the CFO thinks its ok to wait until next Friday and include those hours in that paycheck. I say we should have cut him a manual check right away. The employee has agreed to wait, but what happens when he isn't happy about something, quits and turns us in OR we get audited by the DOL?

Don D · January 2004

I don't think the largest problem you have is in the employee deciding 'to turn you in'. You initially indicated the employer 'forgot to pay'. Your clarification pointed to a supervisory error in not turning the time in. In either event, the company, for a whole host of reasons, should cut a manual check now and pay what is owed. How could that be problematic. The biggest problem I see is with the CFO who interjects his opinion and belief into the equation by assuming the employee has no need for the money and can wait.

The second problem I see is your system whereby an employee's time is not turned in and accounting or payroll has no check/control to send up a red flag.

In the grand scheme of (government) things, this issue is not even a blip on the radar. No DOL audit will result nor would this be a major concern during any audit. The company made a mistake and corrected it. Untimely, maybe. No big deal.....except for this CFO who judges everybody's need for funds by his own pocketbook.

hrbirdie · January 2004

Don D. from MS, if you were standing here I would hug you!!!!! You have our CFO pegged and you don't even know him! AMEN, AMEN AND AMEN!!!!!
Thank you for bringing a huge smile to my face!!!

Don D · January 2004

>Don D. from MS, if you were standing here I
>would hug you!!!!! You have our CFO pegged and
>you don't even know him! AMEN, AMEN AND
>AMEN!!!!!
>Thank you for bringing a huge smile to my
>face!!!

Thanks for that. I will expect the kind folks at HR HERO, who maintain our 'permanent records' and keep tabs on whiners and complaints, to make note of this compliment that I got.

Payment of wages

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