Emergency Payroll Payments

Emergency Payroll Payments

POLICY AND/OR OBJECTIVE

For instances in which undue hardship is placed on the employee because his/her respective paycheck has not been routinely issued, the dean, director, or department head may petition the Payroll Manager in writing for a special emergency payment prior to the next regular payroll cycle.  The preparation of an emergency payment and the promptness with which the request is addressed will depend primarily on the prevailing workload of the Payroll Office staff.  A decision by the Payroll Manager not to provide special processing for an emergency payment request may be appealed to the Associate Vice President for Human Resources.

PROCEDURES

Responsibilities of the Employing Unit

The Payroll Office routinely publishes a monthly payroll processing calendar which indicates the dates that must be observed in order for offices to administer the functions of position management, personnel database maintenance, and payroll processing in a timely, coordinated, and routine manner.  If the processing deadlines are observed as indicated on the calendar, a majority of employees will be compensated according to schedule, precluding the possibility of needing an emergency payroll payment.

In order to pay new employees or additionally compensate existing employees, the Payroll Office usually requires the timely receipt of two documents.  First, a document is required authorizing the Payroll Office to compensate the employee a specific sum of money, at a specific time, from a specific budget.  Departments normally submit necessary authorization information to the Payroll Office utilizing a variety of formats.  Second, a document is required from the employing department certifying that the authorized services were actually performed.  This certification is nothing more than a time report where hourly employees are concerned.  When both documents are provided to the Payroll Office according to schedule, emergency payments are routinely created.

Payments in Advance of Services Rendered

The Kentucky Revised Statutes specifically prohibit the prepayment or advancement of any compensation to employees for services to be performed in the future or leave yet to be earned.

Early Release of Paychecks

In instances where services have been performed, the university is further prohibited from the prepayment or advancement of earned salaries or wages to the employee prior to the respective date on which the compensation would be regularly disbursed.  Paychecks cannot be distributed earlier than payday because financial insitutions will not honor their payment.  The paycheck is not negotiable until the date printed on the face of the check.  As an alternative, employees who plan to be away from the university on payday should consider having their paychecks temporarily or permanently deposited into the bank account of their choice.

Special Payments After Services Are Rendered

For situations in which undue hardship is placed on the employee because the respective paycheck has not been routinely issued, the dean, director, or department head may petition the Payroll Manager in writing for a special emergency payment prior to the next regular payroll cycle.  This may be facilitated by sending a completed Special Check Request Form to the payroll office.

The preparation of an emergency payment and the promptness with which the request is addressed will depend primarily on the prevailing workload of the payroll support staff.  Existing department policy is to process payroll source documents according to the following priorities:

First Priority

• All source documents which have been submitted by originating units according to the schedule previously published on the payroll processing calendar.

Second Priority

• Emergency payment requests involving source documents which have been submitted by originating units according to the schedule previously published on the payroll processing calendar, but have been inaccurately processed by an office responsible for providing university-wide institutional support, i.e., payroll, human resources, credit union, parking, etc.

Third Priority

• Emergency payment requests involving source documents which have not been submitted by originating units according to the schedule previously published on the payroll processing calendar, but if left for routine processing, would cause severe financial hardship on the respective employee, i.e., disconnection of utilities, cancellation of lease, repossession of personal property, etc.

Fourth Priority

• Emergency payment requests involving source documents which have not been submitted by originating units according to the schedule previously published on the payroll processing calendar, but if left for routine processing, would cause moderate financial inconvenience to the respective employee.  Processing delays directly attributable to employees of the originating unit or office of the dean/assistant vice-president are placed into this category.

Fifth Priority

• Emergency payment requests involving source documents which have not been submitted by originating units according to the schedule previously published on the payroll processing calendar, but if left for routine processing, would cause modest financial inconvience to the respective employee.  Processing delays directly attributable to the affected employee are placed into this category.

Business managers should emphasize to the employee receiving the emergency payment that the tax and deduction items are still pending.  These items were estimated only in an effort to derive an appropriate net pay amount to be advanced at the time of the emergency payment.  During the next payroll cycle the respective taxes and deductions applicable to all emergency payments plus those of the regular payroll will be combined and processed together.

Processing Requirements for an Emergency Payroll Payment

Emergency checks will be issued for base and supplemental pay.  Generally, no emergency checks will be issued for overtime, shift differentials, additional pays, or refunds of payroll deductions.  These amounts will be processed on the affected employee's next regular payroll check.  Requests for exception to this policy should be justified on the Special Check Request Form.

Emergency checks for base and supplemental pay will be issued on payday if the request is received by 12:00 noon on the day before payday.  The respective check will be released at 3:00 p.m. on payday unless payday is a bank holiday.  If a bank holiday occurs, the check will be released the next business day.  All other emergency check requests will be processed each Wednesday provided the check request is received by 12:00 noon on Tuesday.  Non-payday emergency payments will be released at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday unless a bank holiday is involved or a system/equipment failure has occurred.  The Payroll Office will provide email notifications to the respective unit business manager and the affected employee as to when the emergency check is available for pick-up.