Last payment by cheque

[TypeRTom]

It's my last day in the current job tomorrow and have been told I will be paid by cheque rather than the usual bank transfer (which would have been yesterday, Wednesday).

The cheque should be a normal months salary + my remaining 1.5 days holiday entitlement. Are there any rules about how the day rate is calculated? What should I do if the cheque is written out for the incorrect amount?

[mike325112]

Why on earth is that? Counds fishy to me. They could just cancel the check no? Id be asking for a transfer of funds pronto!

[TypeRTom]

Everyone else got paid by transfer yesterday, apparently it's the normal procedure when people leave, not just that they don't trust me not to turn up for the last 2 days (If I wanted to do that I'd have left at the end of November and not given notice).

[Rude-boy]

It's not right though as the funds will not be cleared now for a good few days so effectively they are late in paying you.

Personally I would have raised this with them in fairly strong terms.

[GeraldSmith]

It's perfectly normal to pay a leaver by cheque, leaves a lot more flexibility over the amount.

[Rude-boy]

GeraldSmith said:

It's perfectly normal to pay a leaver by cheque, leaves a lot more flexibility over the amount.

Whilst you might know more than I as to if it is normal or not I totally disagree that an employer should take this course of action.

In most contracts it states how payment will be made. Any other form is a breach of that contract.

Payment by cheque on the same day as you would usually get paid means that the payee will have to wait between 3 and 7 working days for clearance of their funds. For most PH'ers this would not be an issue but fo many who spend to their income this could cause issues.

As for the flexibility over the amount well the employer knows when they are going to lose the employee and so it is as simple as working out the usual salery to date. If there are extras due such as for untaken holiday then this could be paid by cheque on the last day. Anything else is just down to greed and wishing to have one over the employee which could well be counter productive.

[Slurms]

Rude-boy said:

GeraldSmith said:

It's perfectly normal to pay a leaver by cheque, leaves a lot more flexibility over the amount.

Whilst you might know more than I as to if it is normal or not I totally disagree that an employer should take this course of action.

In most contracts it states how payment will be made. Any other form is a breach of that contract.

Payment by cheque on the same day as you would usually get paid means that the payee will have to wait between 3 and 7 working days for clearance of their funds. For most PH'ers this would not be an issue but fo many who spend to their income this could cause issues.

As for the flexibility over the amount well the employer knows when they are going to lose the employee and so it is as simple as working out the usual salery to date. If there are extras due such as for untaken holiday then this could be paid by cheque on the last day. Anything else is just down to greed and wishing to have one over the employee which could well be counter productive.

It is fairly normal that final payments are made seperately from the usual pay run - be that by cheque or otherwise, it's normally to allow flexibility in the final payment rather than anything sinister..

[Rude-boy]

Slurms said:

It is fairly normal that final payments are made seperately from the usual pay run - be that by cheque or otherwise, it's normally to allow flexibility in the final payment rather than anything sinister..

I'll have to stand corrected then as I have very little experiance of leaving jobs

That said whilst I am sure that there is nothing sinister about it in most cases I don't like it for the reasons I posted earlier. It's not like we are in 1986 now though and a bacs transfer can be set up and made in less time than it takes to draw a cheque.

[TypeRTom]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I trust them to give me the cheque and not cancel it with the bank, I just want to cover my arse in case the cheque they give me is for the wrong amount. Fortunately I'm in a position where waiting a few days for the money to clear into my account isn't an issue. However the nearest branch for me to pay into is over 15 miles away (I did raise this when told I would be paid by cheque).

So what should I do if the cheque is written out for the wrong amount? Should the day rate be calculated from my annual salary divided by the number of working days (so all weekdays in the year minus BH minus annual holiday entitlement)?

[GeraldSmith]

Rude-boy said:

Whilst you might know more than I as to if it is normal or not I totally disagree that an employer should take this course of action.

In most contracts it states how payment will be made. Any other form is a breach of that contract.

Payment by cheque on the same day as you would usually get paid means that the payee will have to wait between 3 and 7 working days for clearance of their funds. For most PH'ers this would not be an issue but fo many who spend to their income this could cause issues.

As for the flexibility over the amount well the employer knows when they are going to lose the employee and so it is as simple as working out the usual salery to date. If there are extras due such as for untaken holiday then this could be paid by cheque on the last day. Anything else is just down to greed and wishing to have one over the employee which could well be counter productive.

People leave at different times through a month. We pay salaries on the 28th so if someone leaves on the 10th they are getting paid 2 weeks early if they get paid by cheque. So rather than being greedy and wanting to get one over on the employee it's actually a sane a sensible practice that is in the employee's interests.

If it is the end of the month they, yes, I'd pay them with everyone else and pay any extras by cheque although with it being Christmas the contracted pay date may well be next week but being paid early because of Christmas (or at least that's what we are doing, everyone will be paid a week early). In that case paying them by cheque should still be OK if a little pointless.

[Rude-boy]

I do see your point but when you start mid way though a month you usually have to wait until the end of the first full month for payment so it can sometimes be 8 weeks if you get your timing wrong!

Likewise when you end a job you shouldn't get paid early, imo, your final pay should be sent on your final day by BACS or you should have to wait until the normal pay run.

I supose it's just me though so I'll back down

[mike325112]

Rude-boy said:

I supose it's just me though so I'll back down

No its not just you - I'd be playing merry hell up if it were me.

(I had an old company try and rip me off by this method, one bitten twice shy).

[GeraldSmith]

Rude-boy said:

I do see your point but when you start mid way though a month you usually have to wait until the end of the first full month for payment so it can sometimes be 8 weeks if you get your timing wrong!

Would you? We would pay you for part of the month in that first month, the only time that wouldn't happen would be if you were so late in the month that you'd entirely missed the payroll.

Rude-boy said:

Likewise when you end a job you shouldn't get paid early, imo, your final pay should be sent on your final day by BACS or you should have to wait until the normal pay run.

A good employer will always do the work to calculate the final pay and tax and give the P45 to the employee as they leave so that they can take it to their new employer. Having done that giving them a cheque for the final amount and closing it off there and then makes sense.

As for cheque v bank transfer? To be honest we do cheque because for one off payments it's easier, accounts can raise the cheque and all I and/or another signatory has to do is sign, we don't have to log in to HSBC's crappy software with that stupid red calculator thing to just authorise a payment. Selfish perhaps.

[Rude-boy]

GeraldSmith said:

Selfish perhaps.

Not selfish, just your way of doing things.

As for the first payday thing that is what has happened to me and the fiancee when we have started new jobs. Worked nicely for me though as they paid me the same amount in the second transfer and when I pointed this out to the bose he said keep it as a little extra(!) and he'd sort it out so it was right the next month.

I think that in reality it is all about the size of the company and the commuication. Fair warning and all would be fine. Tell someone at the last minute and they might not have the money to cover the DD's during the gap.

[GeraldSmith]

TypeRTom said:

Thanks for the replies so far.

I trust them to give me the cheque and not cancel it with the bank, I just want to cover my arse in case the cheque they give me is for the wrong amount. Fortunately I'm in a position where waiting a few days for the money to clear into my account isn't an issue. However the nearest branch for me to pay into is over 15 miles away (I did raise this when told I would be paid by cheque).

So what should I do if the cheque is written out for the wrong amount? Should the day rate be calculated from my annual salary divided by the number of working days (so all weekdays in the year minus BH minus annual holiday entitlement)?

We have the definition in our contract, I think it's salary/240. But I've heard that some do salary/260 since 260 is the number of weekdays in a year, they don't take off the holidays because they are paid days. Unless you have something in your contract I'm not aware that you can argue so long as it is 1/260th or better (but I could be wrong, there could be an 'official' definition of it somewhere).

[TypeRTom]

Just found this:
http://www.aboutemployeebenefits.co.uk/how-many-wo...

Says there is no law on it, just that the company should have a policy on it and it should be applied consistently.

As far as I know my contract doesn't state anything about it but I will check.

So at a minimum I should expect 1/260, but my actual days at work is 226 (260 minus 9 BH, minus 25 days holiday). I will work it out based on 1/260 and also compare with previous payments for overtime and make sure it all adds up.

[TypeRTom]

Well they told me I was leaving today with 20 minutes to go, no reason given. They used the 1/260 method to calculate my day rate which is OK. At least I can go to the bank and pay it in tomorrow morning now.