A bank error left many employees of new Hanford contractor Mission Support Alliance without their direct deposit paychecks when they were expecting them Friday.
The Department of Energy contractor said about 1,500 employees were affected.
When paychecks failed to post to employee bank and credit union accounts, they were originally told that all paychecks would be posted no later than Monday.
At 3 p.m. Friday, Mission Support Alliance sent a memo to employees telling them U.S. Bank had promised they would have the money in their bank accounts by the end of the day, said spokesman Jeff Dennison.
At 5 p.m. Friday, U.S. Bank was still working on the problem, said Teri Charest, U.S. Bank spokeswoman.
Mission Support Alliance depends on U.S. Bank to post the payroll for employees and preselected subcontractor employees who use direct deposit not only to U.S. Bank, but also other banks and credit unions.
The Hanford contractor submitted the direct deposit file to U.S. Bank on Wednesday, but the file was not released as expected by U.S. Bank on Thursday night, according to information Mission Support Alliance gave its employees Friday morning.
U.S. Bank sent a notice to the Hanford employees Friday morning saying the delay in processing the payroll file "was purely a bank error."
It said then that U.S. Bank customers would have their money in their accounts by 2 p.m. Friday and that most customers of other banks and credit unions should have their money available Friday or Saturday.
It also said Hanford employees who are hit with overdraft fees because of the late deposit could request the fees be paid by U.S. Bank. Employees are required to fax the information to the bank, which planned to issue and mail cashier's checks.
Work was being done to load pay records manually into employee accounts at some institutions Friday, including HAPO Credit Union and Gesa Credit Union.
Mission Support Alliance released the memo to the Herald that was sent from U.S. Bank to Hanford employees, but declined to make public its own memos and updates to employees.
Mission Support Alliance, which has about 2,000 employees, has been providing support services at the Hanford nuclear reservation since late August, including security, utilities and information technology. It's a limited liability company formed by Lockheed Martin, Jacobs Engineering Group and WSI, formerly Wackenhut Services Inc.
-- Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricity herald.com; More Hanford news at hanford news.com.
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