NA Typical paycheck waiting time

denverpilot said:
I'd be careful with that. It touches on the possibility of discrimination against someone who doesn't have a banking account, which while it's unlikely to be, just opens you up for something dumb you don't need to fight.

It's in that same category as asking if someone has a car, versus asking if they have adequate transportation to work. Thin line.
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The mandatory DD for people without a bank account ends up being a debit card that has high user fees for the user... Be careful going that route.
 
There are some employers who will pay employees who lack bank accounts with debit cards, but there are plenty of the pay cards which have no fees whatsoever. These are often favored by employees who want to be able to send money back to relatives in other countries without incurring the confiscatory fees outfits like Western Union charge.

As for the "discrimination" comment, spare me; every job's requirements "discriminate" against employees - if the shop's nowhere near a bus line, it discriminates against employees without cars. The burden of opening a bank account is de minimis.

But most importantly, of course, having or not having a bank account is not a class which is protected. And be real - of those precious few who either cannot, or refuse to, get a bank account, how many do you want to hire?
 
N747JB said:
It's funny most of the ones tha get checks are very stable, successful people, one just celebrated his 45th anniversary with the company! The new folks all love DD, it's the older ones that want a check! :eek:
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A couple of reasons come to mind:
- just likes the ritual of getting a weeks pay for a weeks work in something that he can hold in his hands.
- makes X per week but tells the wife that he makes X-beermoney. With DD it shows up on the statement the wife sees, with a check he can cash it at safeway and put as much in the account as he wants the wife to see.

45 years with the company, he probably remembers receiving his wage in cash in a small paper bag.
 
We get paid 2x a month. The 16th and 1st of the month. The 16th is the first paycheck of the month, we get half the guarantee for the month, plus any extra pay from the month prior. The 1st is the 2nd paycheck, and is the 2nd half of guarantee.
 
+1 on the Paycard suggestion. These are also very helpful for workers that are "credit challenged" who need to travel for business purposes. I've had clients who spend all day Friday processing cash advance checks so the employees can get to the jobsite the next week. Mondays were for matching the receipts and settling up. Now they put it on the paycard. Faster processing and the employees don't need to come to the office, get a piece of paper, go to a bank, etc.

Changing pay cycle can have unintended drawbacks. People who are budgeting on weekly checks and then get moved to every other week MAY have some adjustment pains.

When I was 26 I was switched from hourly (every 2 weeks) to Salary 1st and 15th. That wasn't easy being 26 (and dumb :) ) Then the company was purchased two years later and all salary people went to monthly, last day of the month. Sadly I wasn't much smarter at 28 adjusting to being flush on 31st and broke on the 1st wasn't fun. Now I'm 50,15th and last day of month, and the jury is out on smarter part.
 
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My employees' pay period ends at end of day Tuesday and they're paid on Friday. For years they were handed a check. Now it's direct deposit. They used to get their checks after lunch on Friday but direct deposit happens at 1 minute past midnight Friday morning so effectively they're paid 15 hours sooner. The best advantage is I can approve payroll remotely while traveling instead of using Fedex to send checks back and forth across the country to sign.
 
SCCutler said:
But most importantly, of course, having or not having a bank account is not a class which is protected. And be real - of those precious few who either cannot, or refuse to, get a bank account, how many do you want to hire?
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That right there is what keeps a lot of homeless people homeless. We hired many guys and gals at the shelter working on projects to fix up old buildings to make them into housing for single moms on the street.

Many were quite prompt and good at their work, compared to those who thought the work was beneath them. The shelter paid in cash and drug tested regularly. The hardest part, the accountants told me, was figuring out how to get them their tax paperwork at the end of the year.

Not that anyone really cared much to make them pay taxes. We mostly wanted to get it to them so they could file to get refunds on all of it. Otherwise they were getting screwed. Around tax time a number of CPAs donated time to fill out tax forms for the people we knew where they were.

The stereotype that homeless people are lazy is quite prevalent and about 80% incorrect. Drunks and drug addicts, yes. That was a serious problem. But they weren't lazy.
 
Not an issue with "lazy," Nate. Just different demographics for different types of work.

As counsel to companies which employ (in the aggregate) probably 5,000 people, and who hire into a great many entry-level jobs, I can tell you that you can be certain that when an employer encounters anyone who shows an interest in working and developing, and who is physically capable of performing the work at hand, the employer will go to great lengths to assist them in getting into the fold. Every Single Person in north Texas who truly wants to work, is working. Unfortunately for the chronically underemployed and unemployed, two essential barriers often present themselves: (1) Cannot successfully pass the pee-in-the-cup test, and (2) Cannot pass a background check for prior criminal activity, which excludes them from all school work.
 
N747JB said:
It's funny most of the ones tha get checks are very stable, successful people, one just celebrated his 45th anniversary with the company! The new folks all love DD, it's the older ones that want a check! :eek:
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When we handled my dad's business affairs after his death, we realized that he operated everything on paper and often hand delivered checks to local businesses just to check them out / check in on them, and say hi.

Sure made it easy to know nothing was being paid automatically that had to be cancelled other than things that would not accept a check. His cell phone was about it.

By far not a luddite, he had a master spreadsheet tracking it all. And right next to that computer sat the month's bills in a little pile and the checkbook and a pen sitting on top of them.

I've been tempted to get rid of my automated payments and do similar. Having to write the check every month will make one think harder about whether one really needs something. Similar to not using plastic at stores, but making yourself carry cash. Which is, I'm quite sure, why he was doing it.

He took it a step further and had the time to drive to the businesses and deliver the checks personally which gave him something to do, and also made him look and see if who he was handing money to was worthy of the business.
 
weilke said:
A couple of reasons come to mind:
- just likes the ritual of getting a weeks pay for a weeks work in something that he can hold in his hands.
- makes X per week but tells the wife that he makes X-beermoney. With DD it shows up on the statement the wife sees, with a check he can cash it at safeway and put as much in the account as he wants the wife to see.

45 years with the company, he probably remembers receiving his wage in cash in a small paper bag.
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I think most of the check people cash them and give their spouse whatever they want them to have, a lot of my people are on a small salary with the majority of their pay based on commission, so that check is usually on the 5th of the following month. They use their weekly checks as running money, gas, beer, lunch etc.
 
We close our pay period on Friday night (actually Saturday night, but Saturday is supposed to be a day off). We then tell them we will have their checks ready the following Friday, 7 days later.

....... In practice, along about Tuesday or Wednesday, half of them are sniffing around looking for a check, or a draw a couple of days early.
 
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