labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The New Hampshire Department of Labor in Concord has issued an employer alert regarding direct deposit.

The New Hampshire Department of Labor has received a number of complaints that employers are requiring direct deposit and/or pay cards for payroll. This is not legal, under New Hampshire law. Every employer must offer a check for payment of wages at no cost to the employee, if requested. In addition, the check must be on a financial institution convenient to the place of employment. Employees must be able to cash their paychecks and receive the full amount of payment due. In other words, the nearby financial institution may not charge a fee for cashing the checks.

New Hampshire employers may opt to offer direct deposit and authorized pay cards as payment. However, they cannot require that employees use one of these payment methods. Every employee is entitled to payment by payroll check, if he or she prefers.

Under RS 275:43, employers must pay workers in cash. An acceptable alternative is a payroll check drawn on a nearby bank, or a (more…)

Under a new law, Iowa employers must have an employee’s written permission before mailing a paycheck.

A change in Iowa’s Wage Payment Collection Law took effect recently. The change amended the existing Iowa payment law. The new law requires that employers have a written request from an employee before wages can be sent by mail. The law applies to paychecks, but not to paystub information.

The previous law permitted employers to mail paychecks when an employee made a verbal request, or at the employer’s discretion. While requiring written permission is a best practice in the HR field, Iowa is one of the few states to make that policy law.

Even employers who have routinely paid workers by mail must now have written authorization to do so.

The amendment to Iowa Code 91A.3 was passed by the Iowa Legislature and signed by Governor Chet Culver.

According to (more…)