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Employment Annoyance
Jun. 9th, 2006 09:02 pmEvery now and then, the UNH payroll department glitches. Like today. You see, we get paid every two weeks. Only this time I and several others only got paid for one of the two last weeks. The problem is summer employment. Only a few people in dining are what we call 100% contract - guaranteed full-time, year round work. Others, like me, are 82% or 78% or whatever. This means that our contract period begins in August and ends in May. However, if we are good little boys and girls, they might find some work for us in the summer as what we call "hourly workers." The difference between hourly and contract is benefits. Contract has them - hourly doesn't. Of course, even in the summer, I'm covered for insurance. What I don't get is paid time off. No holiday pay, no sick time, no vacation pay.
So most of us like to take a week off between graduation and the time our contract runs out. That was the first week of the two week pay period. Then we return to work when the contract runs out. That was the second week of the pay period.
But at the end of the pay period, the payroll computer looked at us and saw that we were currently hourly workers - and hourly workers don't get vacation pay. So it blipped over that week of legitimate, properly requested and granted and fully eligible vacation and only paid us for the second week.
Oh, the cries and lamentations! Payroll had to hand-write checks for a portion of the missing pay. Only 70% so they can figure out deductions and so forth and pay us the remainder next time around. I had to wait an hour after clocking out to get my check - part of it anyway. Still, better than nothing. Since most of what they originally paid me was direct deposited into an account from which my mortgage is automatically withdrawn, I was looking at trying to pay bills and feed the family on about $100. And my car insurance is due - which is $117.
In this modern age, and having run into the same problem before, how can this happen? Don't answer, I know, I have an AS in programming. Trying to program for all of the possibilities is a nightmare.
So most of us like to take a week off between graduation and the time our contract runs out. That was the first week of the two week pay period. Then we return to work when the contract runs out. That was the second week of the pay period.
But at the end of the pay period, the payroll computer looked at us and saw that we were currently hourly workers - and hourly workers don't get vacation pay. So it blipped over that week of legitimate, properly requested and granted and fully eligible vacation and only paid us for the second week.
Oh, the cries and lamentations! Payroll had to hand-write checks for a portion of the missing pay. Only 70% so they can figure out deductions and so forth and pay us the remainder next time around. I had to wait an hour after clocking out to get my check - part of it anyway. Still, better than nothing. Since most of what they originally paid me was direct deposited into an account from which my mortgage is automatically withdrawn, I was looking at trying to pay bills and feed the family on about $100. And my car insurance is due - which is $117.
In this modern age, and having run into the same problem before, how can this happen? Don't answer, I know, I have an AS in programming. Trying to program for all of the possibilities is a nightmare.
