FORT WORTH--Thousands of Fort Worth city employees who did not get their paychecks deposited as expected overnight will start getting access to their money on Saturday, but it may be Monday before everyone gets paid.
A city administrative error caused the city's payroll to not get processed by Chase Bank, so 6,500 to 7,000 city employees found that their automatic paycheck deposits were not in their bank accounts, said Bill Begley, city spokesman.City officials realized the problem on Friday morning and asked Chase to process the payroll as quickly as possible."They've assured us they will complete the processing of payroll by tonight so the earliest any funds will be available will be Saturday," Begley said. "If you bank with Chase, where the city banks, they've assured us the paycheck funds will be available on Saturday. If you bank with other bank, I would say that it's more likely it will available on Monday."Chase officials referred questions to the city."We're working with our client to fix this as quickly as possible," said Greg Hassell, a Chase spokesmanMeanwhile, city employees are being urged to double check their bank balances before writing checks or making withdrawals. And the city is contacting other area banks to let them know what happened."We're asking them to be as flexible as possible and to understand that this isn't the employees' fault," Begley said. "We're doing everything we can to minimize the inconvenience and take measures to make sure it doesn't happen again."City officials blame human error for the problem, saying administrative steps to authorize Chase Bank to release the city's payroll, worth $11.5 to $12 million, did not take place as usual on Thursday night.City officials notified employees about the problem in an internal messaging system at about 10:30 a.m. Friday and are sending an update Friday afternoon.Jessamy Brown, 817-390-7326Twitter: @jessamybrownHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
