11

So I get paid on the 15th and 30th of each month. Normally before the notification of payroll is received via email, the money is direct deposited into my account. However, today (the 30th) I checked that the money was not in my account. Is it normal for companies to have hiccups in their payroll?

8
  • 10
    Is it possible that it's the 15th and last day of the month, not the 30th?
    – Nicole
    Jul 31, 2012 at 5:22
  • 1
    This could be your bank's fault. Too early to tell
    – Nobody
    Jul 31, 2012 at 5:27
  • 1
    Some banks transfer system doesn't operating on the weekends, I know the banks in Germany is like that. If my pay day falls on a weekend, I had to wait until the Monday to see the money in my account.
    – tehnyit
    Jul 31, 2012 at 6:32
  • 4
    I'm betting @NickC is correct, after all you can't pay on the 30th in Febuary, and it just makes sense to always make it the last day of the month to keep the system exception-free
    – Rarity
    Jul 31, 2012 at 12:35
  • @tehnyit - Except today isn't the weekend. Furthermore if he is paid on the 15th and 30th of every month its very likely the compay is using a system to deposite checks.
    – Donald
    Jul 31, 2012 at 13:01

7 Answers 7

15

Many medium to large size business will normally hire professionals to handle payroll. For instance, many organizations I've worked for either used Paychex, ADP, or some other provider whose job it was to process the payroll as a service to the company.

In my experience, my pay was always on time.

However, the times that I worked for really small, informal businesses, the lines really blurred. Sometimes a check could be handwritten and signed directly by the owner, who was also my boss. In these small businesses, the payroll was oftentimes done in-house, with a calculator and an Excel spreadsheet. I helped with it at one place I worked; it was sort of a mess, but we did what we could with the resources we had.

Depending on local labor laws, there could very well be issues with this. I know the places I've worked for in the medium to large size category always took pay very seriously and some received the checks the day before payday, with instructions not to hand out the checks until Friday at noon or some pre-arranged time.

If you're not being paid on time, it could just be symptomatic of the disorganization of a small business, but it also could be a sign of financial stress in the business. I'd strongly suggest taking a hard look at how the business is doing. If this becomes a habit, you may want to come up with a backup plan!

5
  • 2
    Not being paid on time, or a delay in getting your paycheck, is a huge red flag. If it happens more then once a year there is a problem. There isn't an excuse for a paycheck not to be recieved on time.
    – Donald
    Jul 31, 2012 at 13:02
  • I've experienced a couple of delays in the past few years with my current employer, which uses a professional payroll company. The delays have never been more than a day or two, and when it happens, we usually get an email explaining that the payroll company or the bank has experienced a technical problem and they are working to resolve it. Jul 31, 2012 at 14:04
  • Perhaps I am spoiled. I work for a company with tens of thousands of people, and not once has a single pay check been late, although a mistake in the pay can happen ( has not happen to me ).
    – Donald
    Jul 31, 2012 at 16:26
  • 2
    People actually get paid with a real cheque? I always figured that was just a turn of phrase... I don't think I've even seen cheques for anything under $10,000. Jul 31, 2012 at 23:50
  • In America actual checks are pretty common. Though many people enroll in direct deposit.
    – Joe Smentz
    Jan 6, 2017 at 0:07
10

Just go ask the payroll department. This is you getting paid, and if something is out of the ordinary with your paycheck, you need to follow up ASAP. There's probably just a deposit slowdown at your bank or something, but do NOT let this sit - if something is actually wrong, the relevant parties need to know so they can fix it!

1
  • 1
    Frankly what concerns me is that he was not informed of teh delay. Anytime there has been a hiccup at the business end in processing payroll (and I can think of no more than 2 in 30 years of automated deposit), we were always told. Not being told is sign that something is seriously wrong. Definietely, he should ask whoever does payroll what the problem is.
    – HLGEM
    Jul 31, 2012 at 13:37
4

If this is a one-time thing, don't worry about it. Stuff happens at times. If you don't want to give it a day or two to clear, go talk to either your company's HR department, or your accounting dept. (depending on which one handles paychecks - i've seen both do it at different places).

It's not 'normal' in the sense that it doesn't happen all the time. however, that's not to say it's an issue. Like i said, sometimes the system hiccups slightly.

4

The size of the company is very important to the reliability of the system. If only one person can complete the key task being late is more likely. If there is an entire department involved in getting pay processed it is unlikely to be late because somebody is sick.

You must determine the cause before panicking:

  • Did you submit your hours? Some companies put you in Leave without pay if you don't submit a time card.
  • Did your manager sign the time card?
  • Did they send the money to the bank? This would trigger a statement from the payroll processer.
  • Did the bank fail to process it? One company changed the bank they were using, so my bank didn't recognize it as a payroll check and put 3 day hold. Therefore the balance didn't go up.
  • Did the bank put it in the wrong account?
  • Was there a weekend/holiday involved?
  • Was the bank computer down for maintenance? Mine is today.

You must contact payroll to determine if you are the only one, or one of many. You phone call may be the first of a wave of complaints.

0

If you have to deal with a payroll company, then yes, it may be delayed if there is a holiday. My deposit goes in at the same time exactly every week. When there is a holiday I have to wait 8 to 24 hours longer before they deposit. This has happened with 3 different payroll companies.

4
  • 3
    That's been the opposite of my experience. In fact, when my payday is on a holiday (or weekend) I get it the day before. That's been my experience universally (with DD). In all the years I've been working, I've never had a delay on my deposits unless a change was made.
    – Chris E
    Jan 4, 2017 at 18:13
  • @ChristopherEstep - That is because that is how your company chooses to implement its payroll policy. Jan 4, 2017 at 19:33
  • 1
    This is/would be explicitly illegal in some jurisdictions. For example, MD state law specifies that pay checks must not be late if the normally scheduled pay day falls on a holiday - they must be processed early instead.
    – nobody
    Jan 5, 2017 at 1:31
  • I think in the UK the rule is that I must be able to spend the money on the last working day of the month. If there are holidays in the way, the company must start the process earlier, not make the money available later.
    – gnasher729
    Jan 5, 2017 at 8:53
-2

Life is not normal. Things happen. The bank is slow to process the days receipts, the service that handles the payroll has a problem, the person responsible for pushing the button that makes the sun come up every morning calls in sick and no one realizes... things happen.

I would say that in 25 years in the workforce that it happens on average once a year that there is some abnormality with payroll. It results in paychecks being a day or 2 late sometimes and on rare occasion has resulted in being over/underpaid. These are generally corrected quickly. If you have questions ask your HR, just be respectful. No one cares to respond to unfounded accusations of deceit.

On the other hand, if this becomes a chronic thing you will have legitimate concerns. When companies start to falter it is quite common for payroll to be delayed and promises to be made. Usually there are other signs of problems, like:

  • Members of Management leaving and not being replaced.
  • a lack of supplies that are critical to day to day business
  • not reordering supplies that are not critical
  • Cut hours
  • Lay offs
4
  • 2
    If you are not paid on time it is often a sign there is a bigger problem. A delay of 24-48 hours is one thing. A delay more then that and you should be concerned. Although I find any delay not to be acceptable.
    – Donald
    Jul 31, 2012 at 16:29
  • @Ramhound - the bigger problem is the real world. Things happen. To assume malicious intent is not constructive or beneficial. The op has not waited 24 hours to see if the problem clears up let alone the 48 hours. I would expect most problems to be cleared up with in 1 business day, unless there is communication otherwise. Jul 31, 2012 at 19:05
  • If you have a late paycheck every year for 25 years the people you work for are at best totally incompetent and at worst criminal. That should be unacceptable.
    – nobody
    Jan 5, 2017 at 1:50
  • @AndrewMedico - I did not say late. I said abnormality. It could be hours worked are off, something was not withheld properly, paper checks instead of direct deposit, etc. Something unusual happened. It could be a process issue or it could have been human error. My point is the occasional bump is not indicative of a serious problem. Jan 5, 2017 at 15:39
-3

When you use a national clearinghouse like ADP, the deposits are made by electronic data transfers, which can happen 6 days per week. An example of this is military pay, which uses federal transfers on the last processing day of the period, unless it falls before a weekend then it processes on Friday; ADP does the same.

If you have verified your deposit with your employer and with your payroll processor then the problem is your bank and this happens, unfortunate to often to be considered unusual, you should complain to your bank. The bank can overdraft you and keep interest from you by not processing the transfers, and some credit unions are notorious for delaying processing runs while blaming the federal reserve, which is not the reserves fault.

Anyone who thinks or says this is "usual" or typical, meaning acceptable is not worth listening to, they're being disingenuous at best and misguided by misinformation at worst.

Don't let things sit, call, complain and get an answer it's your money and no one else is affected but you.

1
  • 1
    Hey jns, welcome to The Workplace. I edited this post to clean it up so it's easier to read. We also have a back it up policy here. Do you have references to support your claims?
    – jmort253
    May 17, 2015 at 19:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .