Caution needed at lakes around Wichita ahead of Labor Day weekend
1 September 2023
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) – The U.S. Postal Service informed 45,000 mail carriers they won’t receive paychecks Friday, and the check is not in the mail.
USPS says, however, it’s come up with a solution to what it calls a “payroll issue.”
USPS says carriers can get cash advance money orders at area offices to cover part of the money they would have been paid.
“That’s all they said is it was a glitch, and the glitch, really I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense,” A Northland postal carrier, who asked we not give her name, said.
She is one of multiple local mail carriers who reached out to WDAF-TV to say they were told they won’t be receiving paychecks Friday.
USPS responded with the following statement:
“The Postal Service has found an issue with its payroll systems that affects some rural carriers for the paychecks that will be issued on Sept. 1, 2023. To ensure that employees are paid on the scheduled date, supervisors will be advised to issue a salary advance in the form of a money order available at most Post Offices.”
“The way it was said is you are entitled to a cash advance. This would not be a cash advance. I don’t even like how you are putting it. This is my money that I work for,” the mail carrier said.
According to the National Rural Letter Carrier Association, impacted carriers will receive 65% of their gross pay, which will be close to their average take-home pay.
Some mail carriers say the payroll issue on the first of a month a day rent and other bills are due isn’t acceptable.
“It’s 2023, you should be so up to date that you can pay your employees. I don’t want to be surprised with something that’s potentially going to put me out on the streets.”
USPS says the issue has been fixed and won’t happen again.