Human Resources / Payroll Question

[disneychrista]

A co-worker was killed last night in a car accident. My question is regarding payment of final wages. I looked in our (California) labor law book but could not find the answer. How are final wages to be paid in cases like this? I am sure that this is the last thing on her families mind and maybe it should be mine too, but...

Does anyone know just how the payment of final wages are to be handles in cases of the death of the employee?

 

[Steve H.]

Sorry to hear about your co-worker.

Does the company have a policy on this?

As an example, I looked up our HR/Payroll Handbook and here's what it had to say about the topic (keep in mind this might differ from company to company):

Scope

This procedure covers the reviewing and handling of Time and Expense for deceased ***** employees.

Policy

If the deceased employee’s status is non-exempt (salaried), People Operations - HR will forward a Post Separation Time form to the deceased employee’s Supervisor to complete. The deceased employee’s Supervisor is responsible for completing the form and returning to People Operations – HR who will forward the completed form to the Accounting Center for processing. In addition, if reimbursement is required for business-related expenses incurred prior to the ***** employee’s death, People Operations - HR must provide the next of kin a Post Separation Expense Reimbursement form and submit to the T&E Department for processing.

Responsibility

If the deceased employee’s status is non-exempt (hourly), People Operations – HR is responsible for forwarding the Post Separation Time Form to the deceased employee’s Supervisor to complete. In addition, they are responsible for providing the next of kin the Post Separation Expense form. People Operations – HR will review the post separation expense form and submit this form, along with the post separation time form if applicable, to the Accounting Center for processing.

The T&E Department and the **** Payroll Department are responsible for processing the Post Separation Time form and the Post Separation Expense Reimbursement form.

Hope this helps. Again, sorry about your co-worker.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

Are they setup for direct deposit? If that's the case, I would process the payment as usual and send a family member the stub. If you pay by check, I would still be inclined to process the check as usual, but send the check to the next of kin.

 

[mickeyfan1]

the final wages are paid to the estate. SInce wages are usually paid in arrears, covering work that has already been performed.

Your HR department should have some kind of guidelines. Good luck, I know how hard it is. I had to do this for one of my co workers a few years back. Labor laws may or may not mention this. I do know that California has some specific laws concerning payments to employees who are laid off, I had that experiance also a couple of years ago. Nothing like having people all of the country to be responsible for as a learning experience.

 

[disneychrista]

I am the HR dept., though I am only learning as I go, since I inherited the position after our HR peson left on medical disablity (3 years ago).


I will process her check with the rest of the payroll, next week, unless I learn otherwise (to process sooner).

I can say one thing this is not the way you want to learn about aspects of your job.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Learn by doing, that's how I had to do it, too. I got the job of "office mother" in 1997, and I had to figure it all out on my own. Now I am leaving the company (laid off) in 30 days, and I really don't feel that mk knowledge should be passed on to anyone else. That is a bad attitude, but that's how I feel.

Some companies have no policy, either. Maybe the board or owners or officers could help? I think you have the right idea, just process as normal.

 

[December99]

When my mom passed away, I had to notify the places she worked. One place had to send me forms to fill out and I had to send to all the places a death certificate so that the final paycheck could be cut. And that was just back in August. The check was cut to me in this case because I was the beneficiary and the co-exec of the estate. But then I had to sign it over to the estate because it was technically her "money" because she earned it. Another place just sent the check to me but made it out to the estate.

Is there anyone in your "office/company" that you can call and ask how this should be handled? I would think they would have some sort of policies and procedures manual - if they don't they should! Good luck and sorry to hear about the person.

 

[Pugsley]

Steve, they call your HR department "People Operations?" I haven't heard that one before!

 

[DebbieB]

Sorry to hear about your coworker. My Dad died while on sick live from his job at the post office. A couple of days after the funeral, I took my mom to the HR office. She presented the death certificate and they did all the paperwork. I can't remember if she had to take his will showing she was the person to inherit all his money (probably did) but the check was paid direct to her. Item to consider - any earned vacation pay that is due? He had quite a bit of acrued vacation pay that my mother got. Does your company have employee life insurance? A claim will need to be made for that. If your office is just a small with no HR department or written policy, the owners should decide any benefits.