Passenger Trains > Iowa Pacific paychecks late/not received

Up to 100 staff members from the IPH Saratoga and North Creek Railway's Polar Express train are complaining about not receiving their final paychecks, and that this is not the first time this has happened.

Very negative publicity:

http://news10.com/2017/01/11/polar-express-employees-say-they-havent-received-last-paycheck



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/17 12:54 by stuporchief.

If these folks keep up on the news they would know the IRS advanced the date the 1099s had to go out so therefore the clerks who issue those checks will be very busy, and sometimes things have to give.  Best that these folks move on and look for other jobs.  Some companies are slow payer, but they still manage hiring new employees when needed. 

Sounds like just another day at Iowa Pacific.   Meanwhile, rumors of a liquidation get louder and louder.

Normal pratice at Amtrak and from what I hear also the freight RR's. Reject or deny time claims and make the employees fight for the money knowing many will give up. However I've never heard of an entire paycheck not being received.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/17 09:05 by cabsignaldrop.

PlyWoody Wrote:
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> If these folks keep up on the news they would know
> the IRS advanced the date the 1099s had to go out
> so therefore the clerks who issue those checks
> will be very busy, and sometimes things have to
> give.  Best that these folks move on and look for
> other jobs.  Some companies are slow payer, but
> they still manage hiring new employees when
> needed. 

1099's are still due 1/31 as always. The 1096, a listing of all the 1099's issued, was advanced. But if you use the right program you can do both at the same time. So I don't buy into the 1099 story as "delaying" the payroll. Didn't delay any of my client's pay checks or even W-2 issuances. 

Employees often live from paycheck to paycheck and need their money when it's due.  That's why Oregon law requires final paychecks to be paid within one business day after an involuntary termination.  If the employer doesn't meet that requirement, the wages continue until paid, for up to 30 more days (known in Oregon as penalty wages).  The IP employees need to check their local laws to see if there's anything similar.

A funds availability issue is one thing, but in terms of not being able to get the work done, there is no excuse in this day and age where companies like Paychex, Inc are available to get the job done efficiently.  Who does thier own payroll any more?

cabsignaldrop Wrote:
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> Normal pratice at Amtrak and from what I hear also
> the freight RR's. Reject or deny time claims and
> make the employees fight for the money knowing
> many will give up. However I've never heard of an
> entire paycheck not being received.

Me, Burlington Northern Railroad, more than once.

TAW

I doubt this problem has to do with bureaucratic snafus. It is more likely about IPH having insufficient funds to cover the payroll.

P Wrote:
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> A funds availability issue is one thing, but in
> terms of not being able to get the work done,
> there is no excuse in this day and age where
> companies like Paychex, Inc are available to get
> the job done efficiently.  Who does thier own
> payroll any more?

Lots and lots of companies oh holier than though!

cabsignaldrop Wrote:
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> Normal pratice at Amtrak and from what I hear also
> the freight RR's. Reject or deny time claims and
> make the employees fight for the money knowing
> many will give up. However I've never heard of an
> entire paycheck not being received.
>
> Posted from Android

You never worked for the CRI&P or MILW, then.

Realist Wrote:
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> cabsignaldrop Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Normal pratice at Amtrak and from what I hear
> also
> > the freight RR's. Reject or deny time claims
> and
> > make the employees fight for the money knowing
> > many will give up. However I've never heard of
> an
> > entire paycheck not being received.
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
> You never worked for the CRI&P or MILW, then.

When I worked for MILW, I always got a check on payday, just not always all of it.

TAW

When I was in high school, a buddy of mine was a supervisor for WT Grant, a department chain.

The company filed bankruptcy and announced all stores would be closed immediately. The employees cleaned the place out. Not a TV fridge or couch was left.

Years later he got a check for $15 on the $200 of pay owed him.

Posted from Android

In old days on MILW when on Hiawatha pre '71, was told by a conductor Minnesota/and other midwest points got paid on a Seattle bank and people out west got paid on Milwaukee or Chicago banks in order tht checks would not clear fast.

viatrainrider Wrote:
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> In old days on MILW when on Hiawatha pre '71, was
> told by a conductor Minnesota/and other midwest
> points got paid on a Seattle bank and people out
> west got paid on Milwaukee or Chicago banks in
> order tht checks would not clear fast.

When I arrived in Bellingham in 1974 for the operator job I had just won, I remembered the advice of a former NYC colleague in Chicago. He had several worthless PC checks in his locker. He told me he learned to get his check as early in the day as possible and cash it immediately at the closest bank.

I arrived in Bellingham and located the station. It didn't look like a railroad station and was not where one might expect to find a railroad station, so it took some looking. The next step was to recon the neighboorhood an a pattern outward from the station, looking for the closest bank. I found National Bank of Commerce (later Rainier Bank, then SeaFirst, then Bank of America) a little over a block away. The standard routine was get the check as soon as the agent came in and head directly to the bank. I got cash, which I deposited the next day with a different teller. I didn't want to deposit the check directly and have it sucked out of my account.

TAW

TWC Wrote:
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> I work for a shortline that utilizes Paychex. They
> regularly screw up our payroll. It happens. IP's
> Chicago offices must be melting down right now.
> I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that this
> is a mistake caused by the massive layoff

What massive layoff happened?

> Normal pratice at Amtrak and from what I hear also
> the freight RR's. Reject or deny time claims and
> make the employees fight for the money knowing
> many will give up.

Different kettle of fish. On the RRs (the ones whch have union agreements), the employees claim their time per their understanding of the contract, and the Company pays per its understanding. On many things, particularly penlaty payments and arbitraries, there can be differences of option. So the Company denies what it doesn't think is proper (i.e. the arbitraries over and above the basic day). Then the grievance procedures kick in.

> However I've never heard of an entire paycheck not being received.

Happened when I was at Atk once a couple of times because the messenger service was either late or lost the package of checks.

The Iowa Pacific, by whatever name you want to call it, looks like it's imploding from it's own financial crazyiness (things along the lines of the OPM Club). From what I've head from several private car owners over the last couple of years, I'm surprised it didn't happen quite a while ago.

Forwarding info-Iowa Pacific had a very large reduction in force this week. Besides the majority of the Texas State RR staff, people from other IPH locations, and from corporate, were let go. (December 30, 2016 info)

Realist Wrote:
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>
> You never worked for the CRI&P or MILW, then.

Worked for the CR&IP until Nov. 1979 and never missed a check except for
thie time we were on strike.

Does this effect the Hoosier State? Why are they shutting down in winter?

Posted from iPhone