My boss forgot to submit my stipend to HR in time to get it onto my current paycheck (being paid this Friday). The difference is about 20% of my net. This is significant to me, as we were going to put a down payment on a car this weekend. Now I’ll need to wait an extra 2 weeks to do that.
He says there’s nothing that can be done to put it through faster. I just want to know if it’s legal for my company to make me wait? Should I press my HR dept for faster reimbursement? I’ve never been in this situation before. He did the same thing once before, but the error was corrected in time for me to get my full paycheck on time.
Probably not much you can do, other than asking them to try to process it faster.
If they were refusing to pay, you’d have to take them to court - and that’s not likely to get money in your hands in less than two weeks. Since it sounds like they intend to pay in the next payroll cycle, there probably isn’t much room for improvement.
Also, reimbursements do not generally enjoy the same legal protections as actual hourly wages / salaries.
Can you explain the situation and get an advance against it? That’s how I’d handle such an error when I messed up or someone forgot to include something when I did payroll.
What andrewm says - this kind of comes under the heading of Excrement Occurs. No doubt it is against the law some way or other, probably civilly, but paying you 20% of your salary two weeks late so you have to wait to make a down payment on a car is not exactly the Crime of the Century.
Same thing - technically I’m sure this isn’t true, but they aren’t going to run a special payroll cycle just for this.
So if it’s not legal what is that going to do for you? I doubt that it’s going to impress your boss to point it out to him. I would stress to him (again?) that you had those fund earmarked for an immediate expense and see if he can make something happen with accounting. I’d also make sure to remind him in the future about your stipend so this doesn’t happen again. Maybe you can put some of the down payment on a credit card and then pay it in two weeks?
You know, I have been in a similar situation a couple of times, and if you’re a regular employee and not an independent contractor I think there is something you can do. If you’re contract you’re SOL. But if you’re an employee there ought to be something they can do.
Really bad example: Some years ago I switched jobs and went to for the the state, which at that time paid monthly, and they were a month behind. So I worked six days in July. On August 1 everybody got paid, but they were paid for June, so I got nothing. The month of August stretched before me like a desert and all I had was my last paycheck from my previous job, which paid every two weeks so it wasn’t a huge check. About midway through the month I picked up a part-time waitressing job so I could continue eating.
On September 1 everybody got paid again, but–as you will recall–I only worked six days during my first “month” so… At that point I went whining to HR where I spoke to someone who quite grudgingly admitted that they could cut me an emergency “advance.” Which they did. Her whole mien was that people who had to resort to this were terrible money managers, but sheesh! At that point it wasn’t just food, it was rent & transportation. I guess you were supposed to really not need the money, in order to go to work for the state. (In the years I worked there numerous people had similar stories, and even the people who made twice what I did got pretty thrifty about things like going out to lunch toward the end of the month.)
My department providers after-hours coverage on a rotating basis. We trade weeks with each other pretty often, though. Since the person getting the stipend varies week-to-week, my boss has to notify Payroll who it goes to. The onus is on him, they don’t pester him for the info if he forgets to submit it.
Probably nothing. Does it hurt to ask?
I plan to razz him about it a little the next few times it’s my turn. He’s generally cool and 100% on top of shit, but he was at a conference and probably spaced it. That shouldn’t suggest that I’m anything but super not-OK with this, since it’s happened twice now. I like money.
Oh yeah, I realize shit happens. I don’t think it’s a crime, much less the crime of the century. If anything, it’d be a tiny civil violation. I did ask our Payroll dept if they’d be able to issue me a paper check since the error was not mine. No dice! Oh well. It’s not the end of the world, although it certainly does suck. So thanks for that.
I’ll get over it. I just don’t know the law here. Whether I actually planned to use the information or not, I’ve always believed forewarned is forearmed and it never hurts to learn something new. So thanks for all the info! <3
My employer runs a supplemental payrolls for people with late paperwork.
The payroll by necessity has a deadline for paperwork. The paperwork is audited and checked for any errors. They have to get the timesheets entered, set up deductions and benefits. Once payroll is started theres no going back. We run the supplemental a few days later.
My first job was in Computing Services supporting payroll. Writing reports, making needed updates and I was the backup person that could schedule and run a payroll. Scheduling payrolls was the responsibility of the payroll manager, but I filled in when needed.
I feel the OP’s pain. His employer should run supplemental payroll when required.
If we aren’t talking about a huge amount of money the difference in the amount of interest you’ll pay if you have to finance more to cover the missing part of the down payment might not be that much, maybe small enough that it’s worth it if you need the car NOW or found something that might be gone in 2 weeks. Edmunds and I’m sure other places online have loan interest calculators you can plug numbers into to see what the damage would be.
Your comments indicate you’re getting direct deposit. There is no reason the banking system can’t take another file from your HR/payroll/accounting dept any day they send it. That being said, if your company is on some antiquated program that only produces a file every two weeks, it may be a bit of programming hours to create a one-off ACH file just for you &/or there’s some (nominal) charge for your company to submit an extra file to their bank because they only contracted for 26 ACH files (doubtful, but possible).
I know NJ law has a stipulation that wages must be paid w/in two weeks. If NY has a similar law you could file a Dept of Labor complaint against your company. By your account it sounds like a mistake & if I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t utilize such a nuclear option for a place you continue to work at. However, I might go to HR & threaten it in order for them to cut me a paper check right away.
I think your best bet is to to go higher in the HR dept & ask them to give you a one-off payment, either direct deposit or check.
