Final paycheck

[testedmonkey]

CA

An employee of ours gave me her 1 week notice yesterday afternoon. She called in and left a voice mail this morning that she "wouldn't make it in today." Short-timers syndrome, no biggie. We're going to prepare her final check and show her the door tomorrow morning. However, an email we found on her company account shows her telling a friend that because we aren't paying her out her sick leave, she's going to use it all before she goes.

Knowing this, and considering she didn't specify in her message that she was sick, do we have to pay her out the sick time for today? We'd planned on being nice and paying her through her last day, plus vacation. At this point, we'd rather pay her the bare minimum and wash our hands of it. Her desk is already cleaned out so there's no need for her to return for anything.

Do we have to pay her sick time? Can we apply vacation time for today instead of sick? What exactly does she get paid out for at this point?

Thanks!!

 

[cbg]

You pay her through today, plus any unused vacation time (which is required by law in your state). You do NOT have to pay out her sick time unless she is working under an enforceable contract that says otherwise. The MINUTE she sets foot on the premises tomorrow, you tell her that she need not return for the rest of her notice week. You hand her, her check (since she gave more than 72 hours notice, that is also required by your state law) and you escort her out the door.

BEFORE she comes in tomorrow, you deactive any computer passwords she may have, and if you use a swipe card key system and she has one, you recode her card as soon as she is out the door tomorrow.

That would be how I would handle it.

 

[testedmonkey]

Way ahead of you

She turned her key in several months ago when I told her employees couldn't be in the building without supervision. (Guess she took offense) I changed her email password and am in the process of having her deleted emails restored. I'll change all the web site passwords this afternoon. Accounting will prepare her check this afternoon.

Thanks!

(Have I mentioned that you guys rock?)

 

[cbg]

BTW, since she did not report to you that she was sick, but only said she was not coming in, today's pay comes out of her vacation time.

 

[testedmonkey]

Sweet.

Life is good. I'm unloading my two biggest headaches this week. One now, one will be gone in a few weeks.

 

[cbg]

California is unquestionably more employee friendly than most states, but employers do still have a few rights.

Let us know tomorrow how it goes.

 

[testedmonkey]

Final Chapter

Ok, here's how it went down: She showed up for work this morning and found that her time card had been removed from the rack. She announced to the staff that "I guess I'll pack my s*** and get the f*** out of here." She went to her desk and found that someone else has their stuff there now. So, I pulled her aside and said "Thanks for coming in, but it looks like we've got everything wrapped up. You can come by tomorrow to get your final check or we can mail it to you." So she left, with a few choice curse words on her way out the door.

(Before cbg thinks I wasn't paying attention, I asked accounting to prepare her final check yesterday. Guess they didn't realize it was kinda important.)

As expected, the ex-employee figured this out and left me a voicemail stating she'd call me every ten minutes until I gave her that check. I hunted down our accounting person at home and had them scurry into work to get the check done. She just came in, picked up her check, with no further incidences. Yet.

Here's a question... If she gave us her notice for 1/11/05, and we chose to end it on 1/5/05 instead, were we supposed to pay her through 1/5/05 or 1/11/05?

 

[cbg]

Legally, you only need to pay her through 1/5/05 and don't let her tell you otherwise.

You certainly have the option of paying her through 1/11/05 and while in this case I'd have done the same thing you did, in general I would recommend paying out a notice period if you opt not to have them work it out. Reason: if your employees figure out that they're not going to get paid for their notice, they'll stop giving it to you. In addition, it's really only fair.

In this case, she didn't play fair with you so I see no reason why you should pay her any more than the minimum the law requires. But for the most part, I usually recommend paying out the notice period even though it's not required by law.

 

[testedmonkey]

I agree

I would've had no problem paying out her notice period had she been a better employee. That sounds harsh, but she's been a pain in the butt for the last six months and was slated for termination anyway. It was just fate that she gave her resignation the same day management put her on the short list. I've posted about this employee before, regarding medical leave. Her attendance, her attitude, her refusal to work within a team structure, her entitlement issues, all that stuff gave me no reason to show any more professional courtesy than what she was showing us. Heck, if she'd worked her notice period like she said she would, she would've gotten paid for it. She tried to be shady and use up her sick time during her notice because I told her she wouldn't get paid out for the unused accrual. Even worse, she advised our other short-list employee to do the same. That's a whole 'nother story, though.

But, yes, CBG, I will heed your wise words next time. If we are going to cut an employee's notice short, we *should* pay them out through their set last-day. It *is* only fair.

 

[cbg]

I just went back and looked at some of your old posts. So this is THAT little whosis, huh? Yes, indeed, I do remember her. Candidly, the only thing that surprises me is that she continued to be employed this long.

Since I like you, testedmonkey, I'm going to fill you in on another little trick she's likely to pull since she evidently believes she knows all about employment law. When someone calls looking for references on her, you are perfectly free under your state law to provide any truthful information about her job performance; the reasons for her termination; her knowledge, qualifications, skills or abilities; and her eligibility for rehire. I can give you the specific CA statute numbers if you want them. She may try to tell you that the law prohibits you from giving anything except her job title, dates of employment and possibly salary. Not so, my friend. You are by no means limited in that way.

 

[HomeGuru]

cbg, you go girl!

 

[testedmonkey]

Oh wise one

That's a sneaky bit of info. I like it. I like it a lot.

And just as candidly, cbg, she should've been out the door many moons ago. My current situation is a precarious one. We "lost" our HR lady almost a year ago. As the next ranking employee, it fell to me to pick up the slack. The main owner I work with has this wonderful management technique of not telling people what he expects from them, he wants them to figure it out themselves. And yet when he tells me to "just handle it," my decision is then vetoed. Not always, but frequently. I decided awhile back that she had to go, but he hemmed and hawwed over it. I finally sat him down Tuesday morning and said "look, she's gotta go, NOW." He ok'd it, then she resigned two hours later on her own. Them's the breaks.

All my requests for formal HR training have been shot down. Again, he feels I should "just figure it out." My chosen career field is not HR and I have CA State licenses and appointments that require CE credits. He pays for those since my main job description requires I maintain my licenses and appointments.

I need to get on the ball and get some HR knowledge on my own to make sure what I'm doing is legal and fair. Even if he doesn't feel it's necessary, my own job ethic dictates that I do my job the best I can, regardless of what the boss is willing to pay for. In the meantime, this web site is one of my best friends. Of course, I try to contribute on the forums where my actual training can be of use. If you check all my posts, you can probably tell what career field I'm in.

I like you too, cbg. You've been a lifesaver!

 

[cbg]

Yep, I pretty much guessed that. Bring your questions here; Beth, Suzie, Patty and I have all been in HR for mucho years and if we don't know the answer, we'll know someone who does!