Thomson Reuters acts fast to fix payroll snafu's tax issues

The group’s payroll department informed affected employees in an e-mail late on Thursday that the special payroll estimates employees’ unpaid time.

Salaries in the United States are paid every two weeks. The Newspaper Guild of New York said some of its members reported that funds were deposited to their accounts on Friday.

“Guild members who didn’t get their overtime and differential pay in the Jan. 31 payroll due to Hewitt’s inability to complete our pay computations on time should check their bank accounts,” the union said.

“One problem that may have been avoided because management acted quickly and within the same pay period is the triggering of higher tax rates for members whose extra pay otherwise would have been pushed into the next pay period,” the Guild said.

The next regular paycheck on 14 February would reflect a reversal of the estimate from the special payroll and “recalculate the exception time through the normal process”.

“While we’re thrilled that management fixed the payroll mistakes sooner rather than later, we remain concerned about Hewitt’s recent poor record of accurately calculating members’ pay,” the Guild said. “Members would be wise to monitor their bank accounts and payroll statements carefully and to inform Payroll and the Guild of any discrepancies.”

Last week, the union issued an open letter to Thomson Reuters CEO James Smith, about the payroll errors. “And now management has addressed the most recent OT misstep. Is there a connection? Who knows? But we do know that we don’t want these mistakes to happen again. We need to know that the company can meet its obligations.” ■