Ask Me Help Desk - Ga labor laws regarding payroll

If an employer has an established payroll date and offers direct deposit for funds to be available on that date, can they require the employee to have direct deposit? If the employee does not want DD, can the employer mail the check even if it means the employee will get it 4-5 days after the set pay day?

They don't HAVE to mail it to you... if they decide to Direct Deposit Everyone's checks... they very much CAN do that.

Having someone demand to to otherwise causes them a lot of extra expense and trouble every pay period.

And more and more employers are doing that every day.

They cannot require DD, but they can make it more advantageous. So if they say to employees that non DD checks will be mailed no later than the scheduled pay day they can.

Scott, I know my employer as well as my wife's employer REQUIRE direct deposit... and have for over a year now. A check is not an option... in fact hers requires a DD to a specific institution... the one she is employed at... (which means we have to do cash transfers monthly to our main account).

Of Course that applies to EVERYONE... employed there. She can't even pick up a check from payrol.

Could be state specific. I don't believe NYS allows an employer to require DD. Too many people don't have checking. In fact, I think NYS requires that an employee can request cash payouts.

I do the payroll for a union shop in the state of Washington - we offer direct deposit, but do not require it (although, I guess we could if we wanted to... ). Because we are union, the agreement requires us to hand deliver the paychecks to the employee on the pay date, or mail it with enough time to reach the employee on the appropriate pay date (ex: we are paid every Friday, so I must make sure to mail the paychecks by Thursday... ) The union provides super strict penalties that can be brought against the employer if the employee does not receive their pay on the paydate, like $100 extra dollars per day for every day the pay is late... it would be interesting to know if the op is in a union... but, anyway, here's an informative web page, it says that the state of Georgia has no specific law regarding direct deposit, so it is uncertain if an employer can demand it, and, I would imagine, uncertain if an employee could argue against it :/...
FlexChecks: State Direct Deposit Laws

Also - Smoothy (who I respect very much, and am not trying to sound rude or sassy! ) I see that the state you live in does allow you to require direct deposit, but for all those states that do not, (or have not said either way, like the op's state), I think it's important to address what you had mentioned in your first post - you had expressed that there was an extra expense to provide paper checks, but I know it costs my company extra money to provide the direct depost option. There is a fee each time I initiate the direct deposit, which varies depending on the dollar amount of the complete direct deposit batch... paper checks are a lot easier in many ways, and really only cost the employer whatever the charge was to purchase the checks... if you mean an expense because of possible extra labor for the person doing the payroll, then really, you just initiate the direct deposit, then click the 'print paychecks' button for whichever employee is not doing direct deposit... doesn't take more than a few seconds to do... )

Quote:

Originally Posted by aliseaodo

I do the payroll for a union shop in the state of Washington - we offer direct deposit, but do not require it (although, I guess we could if we wanted to...). Because we are union, the agreement requires us to hand deliver the paychecks to the employee on the pay date, or mail it with enough time to reach the employee on the appropriate pay date (ex: we are paid every Friday, so I must make sure to mail the paychecks by Thursday...) The union provides super strict penalties that can be brought against the employer if the employee does not receive their pay on the paydate, like $100 extra dollars per day for every day the pay is late... it would be interesting to know if the op is in a union...but, anyway, here's an informative web page, it says that the state of Georgia has no specific law regarding direct deposit, so it is uncertain if an employer can demand it, and, I would imagine, uncertain if an employee could argue against it :/.......
FlexChecks: State Direct Deposit Laws

also - Smoothy (who I respect very much, and am not trying to sound rude or sassy!!) I see that the state you live in does allow you to require direct deposit, but for all those states that do not, (or have not said either way, like the op's state), I think it's important to address what you had mentioned in your first post - you had expressed that there was an extra expense to provide paper checks, but I know it costs my company extra money to provide the direct depost option. There is a fee each time I initiate the direct deposit, which varies depending on the dollar amount of the complete direct deposit batch...paper checks are a lot easier in many ways, and really only cost the employer whatever the charge was to purchase the checks...if you mean an expense because of possible extra labor for the person doing the payroll, then really, you just initiate the direct deposit, then click the 'print paychecks' button for whichever employee is not doing direct deposit...doesn't take more than a few seconds to do...)

I'm not offended in any way, To clarify more info behind my answer, and to you... (as I never did give it)

I don't actually work in VA though I live there. However my Employer... a major company based in the North East who I will not name, had that choice for a few years, then they said this is the way it will be several years ago. They won't even send us our paystubs... we have to go on the corporate website and print it out if we want to see it. Again... not given any other option. It's a Union shop and they are very litigious over stuff like this... and they never had any problem, seriously, the labor contract is a small book..

Yes VA is a right-to work state... and state laws and policies reflect it.

My wife's employer is also not in VA. They will NOT even DD to our regular account at a different institution OR issue a check that we can deposit at ours. Yes we have tried. Yes it means we have to go through the time and aggrivation of moving money from bank to another several times a month. And we've had to do this for over ten years. They allow only ONE payment option, DD into an account at their institution...

I do acknowledge as was mentioned by you and Scott... it clearly varies from State to state. While I've lived and worked in a number of states and two countries... I've been where I'm at since Direct deposit became the preffered choice and the norm (it was available for years before then however).

I am curious however of the reason the OP is so opposed to it? Do they have a judgement against them? Their check itself could be garnished at the payrol dept if that's the case.

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