Paydate Inquiry

[Heather Frequency]

Greetings, everyone. Here are the facts:

I am a full-time college student, and an hourly paid part time employee at a company for which I have worked for about 1.5-2 years now.

I initially worked at Branch 1 in my home town for about eight months before beginning college. When I relocated to the new city for school, all of my files were transferred to Branch 2. When the school year ended, I transferred back to Branch 1 to continue working for the company during that period. Since I intend to return to Branch 2 three months later when school begins again, management between both branches decided that an official "transfer" was unnecessary, and to keep my files at Branch 2. (I was not included in this decision. They decided it would be easer ... on them.)

This means that my paycheck for the hours worked at Branch 1 are delivered to Branch 2. Management at Branch 2 is supposed to overnight ship my paycheck on Thursdays so it will arrive on the regular paydate of Fridays. This time, they failed.

They are supposed to ship the check on Thursday to arrive on Friday. Occasionally they fail to do so and it arrives on Mondays, no big deal to me. But this week, when I did not receive by Tuesday, I started to worry and called Branch 2 to find out the status. According to management, they attempted to call two different numbers and left messages to find out what address to send the check to (as if it had changed?). I have no evidence of any calls to either my home, work or cellular numbers, and never received any messages. On Tuesday, he assured me he would overnight the check that day, so it would arrive Wednesday morning. Today is Thursday, I have not received the check yet. I called the branch again to inquire about the status, and it has not even been shipped yet. It will now arrive tomorrow, Friday morning, assuming they did not fail to send it again. This is one week after the pay date.

My bills and purchases were deducted from my bank account today and yesterday. Bills that required the availability of the funds in my paycheck. My bank account is now over drawn by $50, and there are now about $132 of overdraft fees on top of that. Management failed to transfer me three months ago and made a decision not to transfer me without my consent. They failed to deliver my paycheck on paydate, or even in a reasonable amounut of time.

I intend to pursue the issue with management, and follow it up the chain through district management, human resources, and corporate if I have to in order to make something happen. Whether it is company policy or not, it is immoral action and it is affecting my capability to live effectively with sufficient funds that I worked for. Do I have any kind of legal backing or otherwise on my side to argue my case?

[Beth3]

Can we skip the "immoral" part of this? Approaching the situation in that manner with your employer isn't going to get you anywhere. There clearly was a screw-up on the employer's part so hopefully they'll be willing to make you whole but I seriously doubt they set out to purposefully keep your paycheck from you. Why would they? They've been very accommodating in allowing you to transfer back and forth between locations based on your school schedule, which they certainly didn't have to do.

I couldn't find anything at MO's Department of Labor web site regarding pay frequency, although you might want to give them a call and inquire about it. The bottom line though is that your employer is not legally responsible for your overdrafts. Ensuring there are sufficient funds in your checking account to cover your checks and electronic draws is your responsibility. Consequently, if you wish your employer to consider reimbursing you for your overdraft fees, I can only suggest you ask them nicely. I also suggest you contact the manager at the site you are working at and ask for his or her assistance in getting your paycheck to you and if he/she is willing to advocate on your behalf to corporate regarding reimbursing you for your overdraft fees.

[Heather Frequency]

I will approach my employer in a professional manner, as to be expected. No worries there, I can handle that part. They have been (in general) decent employers, despite being grossly underpaid and the only female working at the branch, haha. I attempted to call management, no call backs yet, and then moved up a notch to human resources, no response yet... just to see what they are willing to do before I go nuts and jump the gun on it. Not my style. There are no legal recourses available under Missouri law, they are not obligated to cover any expenses resulting from their failure to meet deadlines. Another last resort option I will pursue is meeting with the bank and see if they are feeling generous that day, heh.

I can afford the overdrafts if I choose not to eat for a week. Naturally, I decided to investigate all options first, haha. Thank you for your assistance and time spent investigating possible legal obligations, I appreciate your help very much.

-Heather