Issuing final paycheck to hourly employee in California

[DanTB]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Hello, under California law the final paycheck is due to an employee at the time of their termination, provided that they give at least 72 hours notice. However, when it comes to hourly employees how is this handled through a payroll system? Any checks or payments to employees must be "ordered" in advance so that they will be available on the employee's last day, but with an hourly employee their time worked during those days could vary. How do we handle this situation -- do we just estimate the amount of hours they should work between ordering the check and their last day?

Thank you for the help.

 

[eerelations]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Hello, under California law the final paycheck is due to an employee at the time of their termination, provided that they give at least 72 hours notice. However, when it comes to hourly employees how is this handled through a payroll system? Any checks or payments to employees must be "ordered" in advance so that they will be available on the employee's last day, but with an hourly employee their time worked during those days could vary. How do we handle this situation -- do we just estimate the amount of hours they should work between ordering the check and their last day?

Thank you for the help.

You're the boss here, you don't have to estimate anything. You decide how many more hours the employee is going to work, and then you make sure that's all he works.

Please note though, if your payroll system can't give you ad-hoc paycheques the day you order them, then you need to get a new payroll system. As an HR professional who occasionally needs ad-hoc paycheques pretty much immediately, I wouldn't stand for anything less.

 

[swalsh411]

^^ HR people like to think they control the world. ^^

The reality is that there are financial and operational considerations and at the end of the day most employers will make this a priority over the best interests of the employee and even compliance.

When you need a pay check RIGHT NOW why not calculate and issue it in-house (surely you have blank checks) and then report it as a manual check on the next payroll? That is a lot easier than processing an entire payroll for one check.

 

[eerelations]

^^ HR people like to think they control the world. ^^

Well, maybe not the whole world, but at least our choice of payroll providers.

 

[DanTB]

Thank you both