ARCHIVED - Deposit of Regular Pay
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Deposit of Regular Pay
December 2003
Table of Contents
1 Direct deposit service
As of September 1st 1992, direct deposit is mandatory for all persons newly appointed from outside the Public Service on an indeterminate basis or for a specified period where the term is greater than, or is extended beyond, six months.
There are administrative reasons which would make mandatory direct deposit not feasible or practical, such as inadequate banking facilities, issuance of employees' pay on a weekly basis or in arrears, or constant changes to the employee's salary because of fluctuating hours of work or frequent periods of leave without pay.
In these or similar circumstances, departments have the authority to pay employees appointed on or after September 1, 1992, by cheque. Such arrangements are to be considered temporary. The employees concerned are to be informed in writing of the temporary use of cheques and that they will be subject to direct deposit once their status changes.
In extenuating circumstances, and at the written request of the employee, Deputy Heads and Heads of agencies may also authorize the use of cheques.
The monies will be credited to the employee's account for the start of the business day of the official payday. Example, for an employee on current bi-weekly pay, for the pay period May 22, 2003, to June 4, 2003, the official pay date is Wednesday, June 4, 2003.
Cheque stubs and direct deposit payment statements indicating entitlements, deductions and net payment amount will continue to be issued for distribution to employees. Employees are responsible to notify personnel of any change of address to ensure all distributed information can be delivered.
Supplementary payments, regular arrears pay cheques, and other adjustment payments will continue to be issued through the paper cheque.
Employees using the Direct Deposit Service must complete the Direct Deposit Enrolment Request Form, PWGSC 8437 and then submit the form to their personnel office with the appropriate voided cheque. The personnel office will create the pay input (commence/amend/stop) and submit it to the appropriate pay office. Instructions for pay input are contained in the Personnel-Pay Input Manual, (PPIM) section 4-4-12.
It should be noted that when an employee changes bank accounts, the old account must remain open until a deposit is reflected through the pay system under the new account.
To prevent the payment from being credited to the recipient's account in the cases of overpayments due to SOS, T-SOS, LWOP, etc. or any other reason for non-entitlement, personnel staff should follow the instructions for either an "Intercept" or "Recall" action contained in the Personnel-Pay Input Manual, (PPIM) Sections 7-5, 7-5-1 and 7-5-2.
On occasion, a "Reject" will prevent the direct deposit transaction due to an error that did not pass the various system edits during the processing phase. When a reject occurs, the PWGSC Pay Office will issue a Series 422 Replacement Cheque for the same amount as the direct deposit reject. Reference should be made to the Personnel-Pay Input Manual, (PPIM) Sections 7.5 and 7.5.3 for additional information and instruction.
In the event that an employee advises that the payment has not been deposited on the due date and it has been determined that the payment has not been reported as an intercept, recall or reject, departments and agencies must initiate a "Trace Request" to determine why. Refer to Personnel-Pay Input Manual, (PPIM) Sections 7-5 and 7-5-3 for additional information and instructions regarding the possible issuance of a duplicate payment.
2 Manual deposit
Employees requesting to have their pay cheques mailed to a financial institution should be advised to subscribe to the Direct Deposit Service.
The mailing of pay cheques for deposit into an account, in an approved financial institution in Canada, may be consented to in special circumstances only. In this regard, the practice of regularly mailing pay cheques to financial institutions for deposit on behalf of employees must stop, except where the Direct Deposit Service is unavailable to employees. For example, departments may consent to mailing a pay cheque to a financial institution where the employee requesting this option is in travel status for a short period on an irregular basis.
The written authorization of the employee, including a waiver of responsibility, is required. This authorization must indicate the name, branch and address of the financial institution in which the deposit is to be made; and the account number and type of account as applicable (savings, current, personal chequing, etc.).
Salary cheques to be deposited will be stamped "For deposit only to the credit of the payee." A deposit advice (slip, letter or list) will be completed in duplicate, dated the date the employee would ordinarily receive the pay cheque and will indicate other necessary particulars (account numbers, etc.).
The original deposit advice and the pay cheque will be mailed to arrive at the applicable financial institution on the day prior to the pay date, so that the proceeds can be deposited to the employee's account on the pay date. The depositing departmental office will retain the duplicate deposit advice.
The department will detach the cheque stub before mailing, and along with the duplicate deposit advice pass them to the employee. Registered mail will not be used.
Staples shall not be used on cheques because they must be processed through the computer system of the Cheque Redemption Control Directorate of PWGSC as well as the financial institution in which the deposit is made.
No compensation shall be paid to the financial institution by the government for providing this service.