Never Getting a Paycheck on time !! Minnesota

[luvlys]

For 2 years I have worked as a Personal Care Assistant for a client in her families home, to eliminate the potential problems with taxes and such I am payed through a company specializing in running group homes and placing PCA's with individual families. My problem is that this company never pays me on time !! I'd say that at least 50% of the time I am payed days late or forced to wait for the next pay period to receive my money. If I call them to find out why I didn't get paid they will make up some lame excuse about how my timecard was late (We have to mail them into the company after getting them signed by the individual family) but I know that I have been mailing them on time and that if they aren't getting them early enough its a flaw in their system because the pay period ends on a Saturday night and timecards are due the following Monday, there is no mail on Sunday so I am doing everything correctly by mailing it Saturday night. It wouldn't be so bad except that the following pay period they combine 2 pay periods into one check which pushes me into the next income tax bracket and messes up my financial aid for school, to which they reply that due to their system they can't scan time cards to produce 2 individual checks within a pay period, which it isn't 1 pay period it is 2 periods worth of pay!!! I was just wondering if this was violating any regulations or if they were truly just allowed to not pay us for weeks at a time and refuse to cut us individual checks for each pay period.

[cbg]

Are you an employee (you get a W-2 at the end of the year) or a contractor (you get a 1099 at the end of the year)?

It makes a difference what recourse you have.

[turbowray]

I used to work for Senior and Disabled Services. I found that I would get my check earlier, if I just faxed it, and I had proof that it was sent, and a copy of what was sent, so they couldn't say that I filled it out wrong. CBG will give you any other advise. Good luck!

[cbg]

That's a company policy, Turbowray, not a law.

[turbowray]

Originally Posted by cbg

That's a company policy, Turbowray, not a law.

Thanks CBG, I was just trying to help her eliminate what she was calling an excuse that the time card was late, and you never know with regular mail. I would imagine that it would be up to them, if they would even except the time card being faxed, insead of being mailed? Maybe she could mail it certified, so it could be signed for, so they could not say that they recieved it late, if in fact they did not. Thanks for the heads up CBG!

[cbg]

Faxing is a good idea, but you're right; it would be up to them whether to accept it or not. Personally I've never heard of having to mail in a time sheet; there are electronic methods now and when I was temping, we called it it. But it's up to the employer what methods are available.

Before we can go any further, we're going to have to hear back from the poster as to whether she's an employee or an IC.

[luvlys]

I get a W-2 at the end of the year so I am not a contracted employee. Faxing would be a good idea but they won't accept them that way (why?? I have no idea) and haven't allowed any other way of sending them in. At this point I am considering certified mail because its ridiculous, 2 weeks ago I was supposed to get paid on a Friday and received my check the following Thursday with no explanation or apology from the company, apparently they think that nearly a week late is nothing to their employees. I am supposed to get paid again this Friday but am not holding my breath.

[cbg]

Certified mail, or some kind of overnight service like Fedex, is a good idea.

Patty can tell you how long after the last day of the pay period they have to pay you. Some states just say "on regularly scheduled paydays" and others say, x days after the close of the pay period. Whichever it is in your state, when they go past it, you can file a complaint for unpaid wages with the state.

[Pattymd]

In Michigan, you must be paid on the regularly scheduled pay day, which can be no more than 14 days following the end of the pay period if you are paid weekly or biweekly.

[luvlys]

OK but the company is Minnesota and Flordia based so I don't think Michigan's laws would have any effect on them.
I am also located in MN so does anyone know if there are any laws in effect in MN ?

[Pattymd]

Sorry, I misread Minnesota as Michigan. Minnesota laws would apply and they are, unfortunately, less stringent than Michigan's.

In Minnesota, employees only need be paid monthly, and within 31 days after the end of the pay period (whatever pay frequency is in effect at this employer).