How long does the company have to fix paycheck discrepancies?

[Insane Jane]

And there IS no law in Indiana, or in most states, that directly addresses a time frame in which errors, discrepancies or disputes must be addressed.

I believe the OP stated that the employee was shorted 5 hours of pay on his pay check.
Again, from Indiana law: "...An employer must pay all wages earned within 10 days of the end of a pay period...."
The LAW clearly states that the employer MUST pay all wages earned within 10 days of the end of a pay period. I don't see anything allowing employers extra time to stall paying employees in order to deal with "errors, discrepancies or disputes that must be addressed."
Feel free to point it out.
Thank you

 

[CTU]

I believe the OP stated that the employee was shorted 5 hours of pay on his pay check.
Again, from Indiana law: "...An employer must pay all wages earned within 10 days of the end of a pay period...."
The LAW clearly states that the employer MUST pay all wages earned within 10 days of the end of a pay period. I don't see anything allowing employers extra time to stall paying employees in order to deal with "errors, discrepancies or disputes that must be addressed."
Feel free to point it out.
Thank you

You are either

a) being deliberately obtuse or,
b) lacking in basic comprehension skills

Pick one.

 

[cbg]

By your definition, there could never be an error or a dispute. The OP received his paycheck on a timely basis. He is disputing the number of hours that were paid. It may very well be a clerical error, but under your definition, the error would have to have been corrected before it ever occurred. There is not a law in Indiana (or, for that matter, any other state that I am aware of) that mandates a time frame for this.

You've never worked Payroll, have you, Jane?

 

[Zigner]

I have to tell you - from a plain-English reading of the law, Insane has a point. If the employee is due all wages within 10 days, and the employee doesn't receive all wages within that time frame (regardless of the reason), then the employer isn't following the law. That means that there is a time limit for correcting errors if the employer wants to comply with the law. 10 days is ample time for errors to be corrected.

 

[cbg]

That may or may not be the case, depending on the circumstances. I'm working on a case right now where the action that caused certain benefit deductions to be incorrect had not even occurred yet on the day payroll had run, and no one made us aware of it till 8 days after the fact. By which time another payroll had already run. By the time we are able to correct his deductions and get it up to Payroll, it's going to have been still another payroll (this employee is paid weekly). Which means it will be at least two weeks before he gets his money. It's not quite as simple as Jane would like us to believe.

But the question was, how long does the company have to fix payroll discrepancies, and the answer still remains; there is not a law that gives a specific deadline to fix discrepancies.

There just isn't.

 

[Zigner]

That may or may not be the case, depending on the circumstances. I'm working on a case right now where the action that caused certain benefit deductions to be incorrect had not even occurred yet on the day payroll had run, and no one made us aware of it till 8 days after the fact. By which time another payroll had already run. By the time we are able to correct his deductions and get it up to Payroll, it's going to have been still another payroll (this employee is paid weekly). Which means it will be at least two weeks before he gets his money. It's not quite as simple as Jane would like us to believe.

But the question was, how long does the company have to fix payroll discrepancies, and the answer still remains; there is not a law that gives a specific deadline to fix discrepancies.

There just isn't.

I'd be comfortable saying that it depends on the reason for the discrepancy (although, we are approaching the realm of "semantics"). What you are dealing with is an error on benefit deductions. You paid the wages, but then took too much away for the benefits. The OP is dealing with a different animal because, in the OP's case, the employee worked 15 hours and was paid for 10 hours.

 

[cbg]

True, it's a different situation. But that does not create a law that says, "All payroll disrepancies must be resolved within x days".

 

[Zigner]

True, it's a different situation. But that does not create a law that says, "All payroll disrepancies must be resolved within x days".

Agreed. However, if the "discrepancy" is purely that of not being paid appropriate wages, then it kind of does fall under the law requiring payment of all wages due within 10 days of the end of the pay period.

For example: If you work 15 hours and the employer says "here's 66% of your pay, come back to me in 30 days for the rest", then the employer is breaking the law.

 

[cbg]

Even the OP doesn't claim that's what happened. An error occurred; it was reported; it is being investigated. The time the investigation is taking may or may not be excessive depending on the reason, but even the OP does not appear to believe that the error was intentional or that they believe the time will ultimately not be paid.

 

[Zigner]

Even the OP doesn't claim that's what happened. An error occurred; it was reported; it is being investigated. The time the investigation is taking may or may not be excessive depending on the reason, but even the OP does not appear to believe that the error was intentional or that they believe the time will ultimately not be paid.

I don't disagree and I'm sure that the OP's coworker should be a bit patient, even if it takes a a few days for it to be worked out. It will be the easiest and quickest method of resolution.