Hospital employees in Mississippi in limbo after not receiving paychecks

GREENVILLE, Miss. (WLBT) – Employees of a hospital in Greenville today were scrambling to make ends meet after learning their pay would not be coming before the holiday weekend.

Explanations and apologies came via email in quick succession.

“The finance department has been made aware that most employees have not received their paychecks yet,” read one missive from Delta Health System’s payroll department. The email urged patience and said the problem was the result of a banking issue.

A letter from the Planters Bank president apologized for the problem.

“Our investigation of this error,” the letter read, “found that our staff did not properly submit the file to deposit paychecks to your employees who do not bank with Planter’s Bank.”

A longtime registered nurse at the hospital, who wished to remain anonymous, said the apologies and explanations did little to quell anxiety among hospital workers on Friday.

Some considered whether to walk out. Others fretted about problems a paycheck lapse would create for them, said the RN.

“Not everyone makes enough money to cover this,” the RN said.

A memo from the hospital CEO at midday expressed hope that the problem would be rectified by the end of the day. Her understanding of the problem was that the bank had, “exceeded the federal daily limit on Wednesday, which caused the rejection of the ACH funds to transfer.”

“This rejection caused most of our employees not to receive their direct deposit,” the memo read.

Planters Bank has promised to reimburse the hospital’s employees for fees they might incur as a result of the problem.

Whatever the reason, the incident lowered morale in a workplace where morale, in the midst of a regional healthcare financial crisis, is already painfully low, according to the nurse.

“And it’s the 4th of July weekend,” that employee said. “People had plans.”

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