MANUAL PAYROLL CHECKS

Transcription

1 Section: HR (Human Resources) Effective Date: July 1, 2011 Policy Type: Company Wide or Dept. Specific Revision Date(s): POLICY: Rural/Metro Corporations Manual Payroll Check Policy has been developed to minimize unnecessary administrative costs associated with the processing of manual payroll check requests. RESPONSIBLE OFFICER: Senior Vice President of Human Resources PROCEDURE: I. PROCEDURE A. The policy is applicable to all manual payroll checks requested whether associated with regular bi-weekly payroll cycle or outside the normal processing schedule. A manual payroll check may be processed under the following circumstances: 1. Involuntary Termination 2. Legal Settlements (that do not meet pay date) 3. Direct Deposit Rejects 4. Lost, Stolen, Never Received Checks 5. Undue Hardship to Employees 6. Collective Bargaining Agreements (with special pay requirements) B. Involuntary Termination Any employee who is involuntarily terminated from RMC is entitled to their final pay at the time of termination or within the legal requirements. This includes employees who are being let go for disciplinary reasons as well as violation of company policy. This may or may not pertain to employees who are displaced as a result of a location closing or staff reduction, as their pay package may include a severance agreement with salary continuation. These employees continue to receive regular checks even after termination and a special final check is not required. Page 1 of 7

2 When an employee has given notice to voluntarily leave the company they will receive their final check on the next regularly scheduled payroll or within the state deemed legally required timeframes, whichever is first. C. Legal Settlements For incidents when the company has entered into a legal settlement with an employee or former employee for wages, a check must be processed through the Corporate Payroll Department. Settlement payments will be processed within the specified terms of the agreement. Supporting documentation must accompany your Manual Check Request (MCR) (See Exhibit A Manual Check Request Form) to ensure proper handling. Payment may be processed within the normal pay cycle if settlement terms and time permits, at the discretion of Corporate Payroll. Legal settlements requiring several checks should be accompanied by only one MCR form. Multi-check settlements should be brought to the attention of the Corporate Payroll Manager to ensure proper handling. Single check settlements can be processed through the normal payroll process. D. Direct Deposit Rejects Employees who have invalid banking information at the time payroll is processed will have their direct deposit funds returned to Rural/Metro Corporation s bank account within approximately 2 business day from pay day. Upon return of the funds to Rural/Metro Corporation s account, Corporate Payroll will issue a manual check to replace the funds not posted to the employee s account. The specialist will deactivate the direct deposit on file until Corporate Payroll receives revised account information. E. Lost, Stolen and Never Received An employee who has a lost, stolen, or has never received their check will be required to fill out a Stop Payment Affidavit Form (See Exhibit B Stop Payment Affidavit Form). The form will need to be signed by the employee as well as a local HR representative. The employee who has lost or willfully destroyed a check will be charged a stop pay fee of $ The bank requires a minimum of 24 hours to place a stop payment in effect on all checks. This is required before a new check can be issued. Any employee who states they have not yet received their check will be asked to wait five (5) business days after pay day before signing the Stop Payment Affidavit form. This allows the U.S. Postal Service enough time to deliver the paycheck. Checks not received on the sixth business day will be reissued and mailed to the employee s home. Page 2 of 7

3 Employees are responsible for changing their address through the Payroll Employee Self Service or will be subject to the $25.00 stop pay fee. F. Hardship to employees. It is the responsibility of the field payroll offices to report all hours to Corporate Payroll weekly by Monday 10:00 am MST. Failure to do this timely may result in delays of employee s pay. Procedures have been put in place through the Payroll Submission Policy on how to handle missed hours in payroll week 1 and payroll week 2. Manual checks are not intended to be used to supplement reporting errors for employees. We understand there may be circumstances in which an employee may endure financial hardship as the result of hours not being reported and paid timely. We will make every effort to assist the field in resolving this issue. Manual Check Request forms (See Exhibit A Manual Check Request Form) for employees who are missing hours must be signed and authorized by the DGM or above before they can be processed. All manual check requests will be reviewed within Corporate Payroll for proper authorization and be escalated if needed to a supervisor or manager for additional approval. All checks issued for a hardship circumstance will be at the discretion of the Corporate Payroll Management. G. Collective Bargaining Agreements If at any time there is an error for an employee who is paid under a collective bargaining agreement, reference will be made to the rules set forth in the current contract. A manual check will be processed when needed to adhere to the collective bargaining agreement. A copy of all current collective bargaining agreements will be kept on file at the Corporate Payroll Office. II. Manual Check Request Form For compliance and auditing purposes field payroll offices will need to complete the Manual Check Request form (See Exhibit A Manual Check Request Form) and fax it to the Corporate Payroll Department for processing by 11:00 am Arizona Time to be processed the same business day. Any requests received after 11:00 am Arizona Time will be processed on the following business day. A. When completing the Manual Check Request form, please be sure the following mandatory information for the fields noted below is included: 1. Date of Request 2. Requested by This is the person requesting cannot be the same person authorizing. 3. Zone Please select from the pick list. 4. Company Code Please select from the pick list. Page 3 of 7

4 5. Cost Center The employee s home cost center. 6. Employee Name and ID number 7. Home or Different Address This needs to be indicated on the form. If the employee s address is different than the system s address, different must be selected and an update should be issued to HR. This is also where Fed Ex should be indicated if the field is willing to absorb that cost. If this field is left blank it will be sent to the employee s home address on file via mail. 8. Net Scheduler Confirmation Please select yes or no. This will confirm if the entries on the MCR has been removed from NS so a duplicate payment is not made. If this is marked NO, the MCR will be rejected until NS has been updated. 9. Code for hours/earnings being paid. Please select from the pick list and the description will automatically populate. 10. Code for deductions, if applicable. Default deductions such as benefits or wage assignments will be determined by Corporate Payroll however any other deductions should be specified by the field. Please select from the pick list and the description will automatically populate. 11. Reason for request Please select from the pick list and the description will automatically populate. 12. Pay period end date This should be included with the Explanation for check request. 13. Explanation for Request This will be the reason why a MCR was required, i.e. termination. 14. Authorized Signature approval DGM, Director, Zone HR Manager, Zone CFO, or Vice President, signature is required on all Manual Check Request forms under the Authorized Signature line. 15. Printed Name of Authorizing Signer 16. Corporate Signature approval Payroll Director, Payroll Manager, or above are required on this line. If the Director or Manager is the authorized signer and the other is out of the office for the day, the Lead Analyst may also be the corporate approver. Page 4 of 7

5 B. It is important for auditing and compliance purposes that all information be completed. Statistical information will be kept on the nature of all manual check requests and reported monthly to senior management. III. Mailing of Manual Checks All manual checks issued from the corporate office will be mailed directly to the employee s home. Federal Express will only be used if indicated in the address section of the form and with the account number from the requesting cost center. No checks will be sent via Federal Express at the expense of the Corporate Office. IV. Implementation Implementation of this policy is the responsibility of the Corporate Payroll. All inquiries or exception requests should be submitted to the department management first. Any exceptions will route for appropriate approvals after department consideration. REFERENCE DOCUMENTS: Manual Check Request Form Stop Payment Affidavit Form Approved by: Date: 7/6/11 President and Chief Executive Officer Page 5 of 7

6 Exhibit A Page 6 of 7

7 Exhibit B STOP PAYMENT AFFIDAVIT FORM Page 7 of 7