Yet another law Walmart might be breaking.
Workplace Prof Blog on the question of getting paid via debit card:
I understand the consumer adovocates point and I appreciate the environmental angle, but as an employment law professor I wonder (out loud) whether this arrangement could violate a state’s wage payment and collection law?
At least in Michigan, under the Michigan Wages and Fringe Benefits Act, the answer appears to be “no.” There, Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. ยง 408.476 (West Supp. 2006) allows Michigan employers to mandate use of a payroll card by employees. Most of these laws require that employees be paid in cash or check, and not in some other form of payment.
Perhaps next Walmart can come up with its own currency. They could call it Sammies!
Really, speculate that somewhere a law might exist and that WMT, which presumably has lawyers looking into employment and compensation laws in every jurisdiction it operates in, is unaware of it and breaking it?
Yeah, well I suppose Obama might have smacked Hillary on the butt once. I have no evidence, but alert the NY Times anyway!
WMT employees who have direct deposit continue to get direct deposit.
WMT employees who did not have dd may have chosen to get dd, perhaps including opening a bank account if they did not have one. This is advantageous to themselves and to society generally in the long run.
WMT employees who did not have dd and have not chosen to get dd but who have bank accounts that offer it are, well, dumb.
WMT employees who did not have dd and have not chosen to get dd and do not or cannot have a bank account (e.g. have a history of check fraud), will now face a possibility of card fees where before they faced definite check-cashing fees.
Outrage!!!
we were told that yes infact a law does exist and for that reasom,paper checks will continue.
I’m guessing that, even if such a law does exist – the fact that any employee can take the card directly to the front of the store and receive the full amount in cash would allow them to do this.
I’m not sure what the big deal is. Direct deposit – and if you don’t have that, just take the card and cash it out. I mean, if you didn’t have direct deposit before, you had to go to the store to pick up your check. Going to the service desk and cashing out the card will take less time than walking to the back, picking up your paper check and bringing it wherever to cash it.
I smell class-action lawsuit vs. Wal-Mart soon enough. They are demanding direct deposit in states that do not allow direct deposit by circumventing the law in giving them a “blank check” as a form of check payment. Problem is that you can only get this “blank check” to be written to yourself if you get their payroll card as well. And, I think, this check is written against the paycard balance – not that of Wal-Mart. Hence, skirting the law IMHO.
All it takes is a few employees who are disenchanted with being forced into/onto a product that will end up costing them $$$ and let the lawsuits begin.
I, for one, work for Starbucks and we have the most unique card that I have seen anywhere. I’ve had it for about 8 months, cashed out on a few occasions for my full amount (mostly just use it as a Visa card but can get cash whenever I want on their large ATM network – always free) and never paid anything to use it.
On the contrary, I used to work at Ruby Tuesday’s and their card was your typical “1 free this or that” card…the type you see anywhere.
If employers/companies are going to encourage or force their employees onto a paycard, why not give them something that has their interests at heart? Can’t it be good for the goose and the gander (probably wrong expression but I think you get what I mean… a win-win situation)?
Wal-Mart employees: If you care to look up the card I have and get yourself something that will cost substantially less than the one you have, it is the “Money Manager Card”. Wal-Mart used to have something called the “Money Card” and it is NOT the same.
Joey