Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Layoffs | Missing money in your last check?

In an e-mail, a former employee at a Midwestern newspaper writes:

Jim,

Both I and another employee who was laid off were not paid for unused vacation in our last check. The human resources department's response was that it was an "oversight."

But you may want to alert your readers so that everyone pays close attention to their final checks to make sure they get what they're owed.

5 comments:

  1. Similarly, if you have personal days that can be used any time during a year, use them first in a year because, unlike vacation days, they are not paid out.

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  2. Same thing happened to me. I was told at my separation meeting that I was entitled to it, but it was never received until I called a few weeks later. Of course, they come clean as soon as you point it out, but I genuinely felt that if I hadn't, I would not have received what was due to me.

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  3. That's precisely what happened to me. When I contacted them, they "thanked" me for following up but if I hadn't brought it up, they wouldn't have paid me. This is a travesty after the horrible way they've treated employees. Please spread the word to everyone you know who was let go - double check Gannett's math. They're obviously not very good at it.

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  4. I know Gannett cares deeply for each and every one of us, but I suspect this is routine. It happens to often to be a mistake. If you call and remind of money you’re owed they apologize and pay up immediately. When has anyone known Mama G to fork over cash without quibbling about it? The company (or whoever they’ve hired to handle layoffs) gets to keep any cash workers don’t claim. Everyone should go over their final paycheck with a fine toothed comb.

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  5. I left USA TODAY in June,and despite constant pleas to better understand why my final check was missing vacation time I never got a response. I never even had an exit interview, despite asking several times.

    Any idea who to speak with?

    ReplyDelete

Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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