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 Services staff.  A decision by the Payroll Manager not to provide special processing for an emergency payment request may be appealed to the Director of Disbursement Services, Mary Alexander-Conte.

Procedures

Responsibilities of the Employing Unit: Payroll Services annually 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, Payroll Services usually requires the timely receipt of two documents.  First, a document is required authorizing Payroll Services to compensate the employee a specific sum of money, at a specific time, from a specific budget. Departments normally submit necessary authorization information to Payroll Services 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 Payroll Services 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 Payments

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.  Payments cannot be distributed earlier than payday because financial institutions will not honor their payment.  The payment is not negotiable until the effective date printed on the face of the check.

Special Payments After Services Are Rendered

For situations in which undue hardship is placed on the employee because the respective payment has not been routinely issued, the Dean, Director, or Department Head may petition Payroll Services 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 Payroll Services.  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 Services staff.

Processing Requirements for an Emergency Payroll Payment

Emergency checks will be issued for omitted base and supplemental pay.  Generally, no emergency checks will be issued for overtime, shift differentials, additional pays, or refunds of payroll deductions unless these items can be processed along with the identified base and supplemental pay.  Stand-alone overtime, differentials, additional pays, and refunds 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 applicable special check request is received by noon five days before payday for monthly employees and four days before payday for biweekly employees.  Payroll Services will provide email notifications to the respective Unit Business Manager and the affected employee when the emergency check is available for pick-up.  Non payday emergency check requests will normally be processed each week.  The special check request should be received by Wednesday at 10:00 AM for special checks to be processed and released during that week.