Carilion works to fix payroll problem
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Carilion works to fix payroll problem
Carilion is issuing paper checks. It says human error caused the payroll problem. Carilion will reimburse any bank fees.
WSLS Reporters
Published: September 5, 2008
Updated: September 5, 2008
The best and quickest source to find out the location of the distributions sites for the paper paychecks is the Carilion employee hub on the Carilion internet site.
The address is: http://www2.carilion.com/hr/internal/index.html or you can go to http://www.carilion.com and click on “employee hub” in the blue menu bar on the left side of the page.
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Updated 6:10 p.m.
Carilion has also set up a special hotline number for its emplyees who use direct deposit.
You can also call this number find out how to get a hold of your paper check.
Call 540-983-3600 or 800-599-2537.
Employees can also go on the intranet and via Groupwise e-mail for a list of specific distribution sites.
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Updated 5:10 p.m.
By Mollie Halpern
The 12-million dollars Carilion pays out to 7-thousand employees who use direct deposit—never made it into checking accounts.
Employees who live paycheck to paycheck—or have mounting bills that are now overdue—called the “WSLS 10 On Your Side” newsroom to express their concerns.
Mollie Halpern says: “I spoke to at least a dozen carilion employees and their family members today about the payroll problem.
They all refused on-camera interviews—saying they’re afraid of Carilion retaliation, that they won’t be promoted, or even worse, fired.“
Mollie asks: “Employees told me they are terrified of the repercussions because Carilion told them not talk to the media.
Eric Earnhart, the Carilion spokesperson, answers: “We’ve never told them never to talk to the media and there would be no repercussion”.
Carilion sent employees e-mails throughout the day explaining why their direct deposits didn’t go through…
It says the problem was “human error”—and wasn’t even aware of it until ‘10 On Your Side’ told them about it.
Carilion tells ‘WSLS 10 On Your Side’ that an employee failed to send an electronic file of payroll data to Wachovia.
See, Wachovia processes that information and then distributes it to other banks and credit unions so that you—the employee—gets paid.
Carilion says it’s working to manually send that data to banks so that the checks are deposited today.
If that doesn’t work, Carilion has a back-up plan.
It’s issuing paper checks that will be available for pick-up today.
Carilion says it’s sorry its employees are suffering financially because of the payroll problems.
Eric says, “If anybody suffers from having extra fees or extra charges as a result of this, we’ll reimburse them for that. Mollie asks: and that includes late payment and bank fees? Eric replies, “Oh, absolutely.“
Carilion says its asking banks to withhold assessing those fees.
It says it’s working to improve procedures to make sure this payroll problem never happens again.
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Original story 9:52 a.m.
Updated 10:54 a.m. with e-mail sent to employees
Updated 12:07 p.m. with 2nd Carilion e-mail about checks
If you did not get paid by Carilion today and would like to talk with WSLS’s Mollie Halpern on this story, call (540) 520-2554, or e-mail:
Updated 12:07 p.m.
Carilion now says the error that caused the direct deposit problem, was caused by a person. Spokesman Eric Earnhart says in an e-mail to WSLS, that a “long standing employee, with an excellent record of service to the company, did not transmit a file to the bank that processes Carilion’s direct deposit checks for the company.“
Earnhart adds the payroll department did not know about the error until Friday morning.
Earnhart says Wachovia has “bent over backwards” to help resolve the situation.
Carilion says its goal to have all direct deposit checks deposited in employee accounts today. If they can not do that, Earnhart says Carilion will use other means, including issuing paper checks, to make sure employees get paid today. Carilion will reimburse any bank fees employees are charged as a result of the direct deposit error.
Earnhart tells us about 7,000 Carilion employees use direct deposit.
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Original story 9:52 a.m.
By Dawn Jefferies
Some Carilion employees are saying show me the money this morning.
According to spokesman Eric Earnhart, “a technical glitch with direct deposit” prevented workers from getting their checks as expected.
Several employees called WSLS 10 On Your Side this morning when they woke up and saw their checks had not been credited to their bank accounts. Some said the money is typically in their accounts Thursday but they waited until this morning, only to find it was still not deposited.
Earnhart says He says Carilion is working to take care of it today. Carilion is the largest private employer in our region.
Earnhart confirmed this e-mail was sent to employees this morning:
Attached Message
From: Carilion Technology Update
To: Carilion Technology Update
Subject: Direct Deposit Payroll Not Posting
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:14:12 -0400
** High Priority **Please do not respond to this email.
To: Carilion Staff
From: Accounting Services
Subject: Direct Deposit Payroll Not PostingThere has been an issue with direct deposit pay: employees with direct deposit
will notice that their pay is not yet in their accounts.We are working as quickly as possible with banks to address this problem, and
find out how quickly pay can be posted to employee accounts. We will provide
additional information as soon as we have it this morning.We apologize profusely for the inconvenience.
Kerri Thornton
VP Accounting Services
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Reader Reactions
Well where’s the money now the story is the money will be in the bank Monday morning?? You know if you missed a payment to them you would be in collections already!!! But its Ok for them to be late. Well my wife works for them and we can make it through the weekend without the check, as that person who defended Carilion. But what about those people who depend on their pay. I think everyone should have Carilion add interest to their check, for late payment, They would!!
I have worked for Carilion for over 15 years and have never been told not to speak to the media for any reason. We have been kept very informed of the progress to resolve this issue today. I can completely understand being frustrated by not getting your paycheck as expected but we all know that we will get our money and that Carilion will do all it can to get it to us as quickly as possible. The comments being posted here have been ridiculous. Do you really think upper management received their paychecks? Really? I guess they run a separate payroll process just for them so they don’t get “screwed”. The way I see it, you have a couple of options, switch to paper checks so you are not relying on the direct deposit process. That would be much more convenient. In 15 years this is the first time I’ve not gotten my pay deposited. This inconvenience is much easier than the thought of having to go to the bank every other week to deposit a paycheck. Or find another job. There are plenty of people who would appreciate having a stable job to go to everyday. I really cannot believe that this is even making the news. And to everyone in the payroll department - THANK YOU for spending all day working on getting a resolution for us all.
This is just one more example of Carilion saying something and not living up to it. The most certainly would do all they could to fire an employee who expresses a negative opinion, been down that threatened path already today. They don’t care about any of us. Oh wait, they pretend to care about the management but kissers though. Personally, I don’t care if they would pull out. My skills don’t require me to kiss hiney to make my living. And besides, should I pay to drive to Roanoke to get my check when it was THEIR mistake. I know they don’t allow room for mistakes when it isn’t one of their long and distinguished cond…, I mean employees. As long as you cover them, they cover you. Anyone who isn’t blinded by the Carilion beacon doesn’t get that protection.
Do you mean to tell me that the financial health and well-being of over 7000 employees rests in the fingertip of a single individual? I can confidently say that 50 years from now, Labor Day will be on the first Monday of September. So, why was this one so difficult to predict? What good will it do anyone at this time to get manual checks after 5 pm on a Friday or even over the weekend? We will not be able to deposit them until Monday or even later. A more intelligent, responsible approach would have been to start printing them this morning when the error was first discovered so that the employees could have deposited their checks TODAY!? They could have always shredded them if not needed if electronic deposit had started working later in the day. What will happen if someone’s credit gets downgraded as a result of a late payment? How will Carilion make this right? What a disaster! I hope Dr. Murphy has a great picnic this weekend at his lake house.
Funny thing is, although it was a human error. It is now 5:22pm and employees still have not recieved a paycheck. What about those employees that are depending on that paycheck to get gas in their vehicles to get home tonight?
What on earth is going on at Carilion? We just received notice that we SHOULD hear something by 5pm. Of course, we were led to believe we would be updated at 1:30pm.. just another lie by Carilion!! NOW we have to check in and go to a designated site to get our paychecks… how STUPID when the bank is IN OUR BUILDING. Perhaps the lady that screwed it all up could take the deposit down to the bank ... and get the money in our accounts. I’m sorry that payroll is being bombarded.. but hey… they are the ones reponsible for this mess. It AFFECTS over 7000 people, not just 3 or 4!! And a BIG THANK YOU to upper management who have sat their butts in their offices all day long and NOT responded up until now… 4pm… 30 minutes to go ... Wow… Carilion is THE place to work for!
What if:
Carilion pulled out of Roanoke and Southwest Virginia? Could the economy thrive as it has in the past 10 years? Would we all scramble to find healthcare providers that would take us if we had no insurance? Where would one find employment; possibly at the airport, the railroad, or would you would get in the unemployment line and look for an easy way out? I guess all of the “nurses” and other licensed people could go to work in a nursing home or at other medical facilities. Carilion did communicate the issue before the initial memo was sent. In order to provide the best knowledgeable answer to the employees an investigation had to occur to validate the issue and assess the total effects. Had Carilion published a statement that was simply “we have an issue” would have been misinterpreted as well. Simple case of a damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Human error happens, in this instance the damage can be repaired the collateral damage minimized and life goes on. This is not the Exxon Valdez incident or a tragedy that has taken a human life. We learn from our mistakes, don’t make the same ones twice and prosper in the face of diversity. A burning question I have is how many of these commenter’s and disgruntled employees continue to work for Carilion. If you are so unhappy, get out! Don’t give me the ole “there aren’t any jobs”. In the military, the overall feeling was that if a trooper wasn’t b*#@hing they weren’t happy. A lot of people must be real happy in Roanoke when it comes to Carilion. The Wall Street Journal has sensationalized a couple of concerns that had been addressed in the public’s eye two years ago. Is the heat and competition getting too hot for the local non Carilion physicians? Is the market no longer favorable to the big private practices that it once was? Competition is healthy for the economy. Hell yea, I am a LONG TIME CARILION EMPLOYEE (15+ years) and this comment is written on my own time from my old Gateway computer sitting in the corner of my garage.
well carilion said it would email their employees at 1:30 updating us. But no email yet, who would have thought! They need to update their own employees and worry about the people who are getting ready to go home for the weekend with no paycheck! I mean come on you would be upset too if you didn’t have your check and didn’t know when you were going to get it! Even if they are going to pay the fees it still looks bad on your credit report if something bounces because of their error that they can’t get fixed quick enough. Carilion come on you are just making yourself look bad these past few weeks. Pay us! We come to work and deal with the EPIC system….we deserve that money! And for the person that forgot to send the document, I don’t blame you there should be someone else that makes sure it has been sent out too. The “big guys” should make sure and be responsible for fixing this…I’m sure they all got their checks no matter what on time.
yea clock still ticking….promises promises ..... it’s now 2:59pm way to go Carilion….just think this is how Carilion recognizes National Payroll Week - what a joke!!!!
i bet if i forgot to pay a bill on time to carilion they take me to court.for a place this big this should never happen..look out for your employees.finding better ways…right..is the check in the mail???
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