County: Payroll issue is nearly resolved
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 25, 2014 1:46 PM
All Wayne County government employees early this morning received an email informing them that they will not be paid on time because the February payroll was not deposited into their accounts.
"We are working diligently to determine what happened and the quickest way to correct the issue," Assistant Finance Director Allison Speight wrote in the email. "We will send out an update as soon as possible regarding the steps that we are taking to get your paychecks deposited."
The county has the money, and employees will be paid, said Barbara Arntsen, county public information officer.
Employees who bank with BB&T should have their checks deposited by Wednesday morning. People who use other banks should have their checks deposited on Thursday, she said.
The reason for the difference is that BB&T is the bank used by the county, she said.
"We have determined the error was made by Wayne County and not the bank," Ms. Arntsen said.
The issue will not affect benefits such as retirement and 401(k)s, she said.
In a follow-up email to employees, Mrs. Speight said the problem had been traced to a file that had not been sent to the bank as it should have.
The file is used by banks in the process of setting up automatic deposit of paychecks into the bank account of employees.
"Because this is a county error, the county manager has authorized the payment of any insufficient funds charges that result from the delay of the February payroll being deposited into your accounts," Mrs. Speight wrote. "If you incur such charges as a result of the delayed payroll, you will need to provide documentation to receive reimbursement from the county for these NSF fees."