FORT WORTH -- Thousands of city employees who did not get their paychecks deposited as expected will start getting access to their money today, but it may be Monday before everyone gets paid.
Because of a city administrative error, the payroll was not processed by Chase Bank, and automatic deposits did not go to the bank accounts of 6,500 to 7,000 employees, Fort Worth spokesman Bill Begley said.City officials realized the problem 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 banks, I would say that it's more likely it will be 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 spokesman.City employees are urged to double-check their 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."In a Friday letter, city treasurer James Mauldin asked banks to help "make this situation as painless for our employees and your customer as possible. One specific way you could do this would be to waive non-sufficient funds fees for a period of time if such a fee could be linked to a delayed direct-deposit."The Fort Worth City Credit Union will handle any problems case by case and won't charge extra fees, Begley said.City officials blame human error, saying administrative steps to authorize Chase Bank to release the payroll, worth $11.5 million to $12 million, did not take place as usual Thursday night.Officials notified employees about the problem through an internal message system at about 10:30 a.m. Friday.Jessamy Brown, 817-390-7326Twitter: @jessamybrownHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
