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Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton decided to pay the county’s 1,400 employees today instead of Friday because he didn’t want to risk a repeat of the Thanksgiving payroll problem.
The Friday preceding Easter has long been one of the county’s 12 paid holidays, and this year it also falls on a payday.
The county was late paying employees on the last holiday that fell on a payday — the day after Thanksgiving — because an electronic fund transfer was not sent to PNC Bank authorizing release of the $2.8 million in payroll to the banks and other financial institutions employees selected for direct deposit of their paychecks.
County management employees ended up coming into work the day after Thanksgiving to correct the problem, though some employees did not receive their pay until the following Monday. The county reimbursed employees about $2,000 for bounced check fees.
Lawton said he does not believe the problem will occur again because several employees now receive hourly emails if payroll transmissions are not executed on schedule, but he said he wasn’t taking chances.
He praised the county budget/finance staff for accelerating the payroll while handling routine matters, preparing for the 2014 audit and completing disclosure reports needed for a debt restructuring package.
“It’s a wonder their feet even touch the ground right now,” he said.
A union representing hundreds of county employees — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME — has argued the county should always pay employees the day before a holiday.
The county’s personnel policy adopted by prior county commissioners before home rule took effect in January 2012 says paychecks will be distributed on the preceding workday whenever a payday falls on a holiday. The practice started because many employees do their banking through the county credit union, which is located in county buildings that are closed on county holidays, a union representative said.
The administration pointed to another section of the personnel policy that says the county reserves the right to change manual provisions. Employees in the credit union can write checks or use debit cards if they want to spend money deposited in their accounts on payday, they said.