State employee wages to be paid electronically
West Virginia state employees will soon be required to receive their paychecks electronically. In an effort to make receiving wages easier, safer and more cost effective, State Treasurer John D. Perdue and State Auditor Glen B. Gainer III have joined together to implement the West Virginia Pay Card system for all state employees who are currently receiving paper payroll checks.
“This is going to streamline the process and make it easier and faster for state employees to access their paychecks,” said State Treasurer Perdue. “Those workers who don’t use direct deposit will now have an alternative way to access their money immediately, with no additional costs or hassle.”
State employees who have not signed up for direct deposit through their payroll administrator by Oct. 1, 2013 will automatically receive a West Virginia Pay Card. The first pay date on which the employee’s pay will be loaded onto the Pay Card is Oct. 31, 2013.
The West Virginia Pay Card is a prepaid Visa card that can be used wherever Visa debit cards are accepted, including ATMs. Each pay period, the state worker’s wages will be deposited onto the card and all transactions will automatically deduct from the card balance. The program will be administered at no cost to state taxpayers. The card provides flexible and immediate access to the employee’s pay at any ATM or financial institution that displays the Visa logo. The system offers employees many free ways to access their full wages. No credit check is required to activate the card.
“The process to receive your full wage to the penny won’t be any different than taking a paycheck to a bank teller window, except the Pay Card avoids your check cashing fee,” said Auditor Gainer.
Currently, the state writes approximately 4,000 state payroll checks per pay period, which is less than eight percent of the total payroll distributed.
Phasing out inefficient, costly and time-consuming processes, such as a paper-based payroll, is part of the state’s transition to a fully integrated administrative system, which is known as wvOASIS (Our Advanced Solution with Integrated Systems).
Eliminating the need to write payroll checks is expected to save the state more than $500,000 in current production costs and future operational enhancements to wvOASIS.
“For the state, it eliminates the cost of writing checks and updating our accounting programs; for state workers, it eliminates the risks of checks being lost or stolen and it means they will always get their money on time,” Perdue said.
The United States Social Security Administration mandated a similar system in March of this year. The U.S. Treasury Department currently requires all federal benefits to be paid electronically.
Some additional benefits of the West Virginia Pay Card include immediate pay delivery, purchasing power at millions of locations, more convenient than paychecks, more secure than paychecks, better control over funds, account management tools, 24/7 customer service, free access to funds/over-the-counter cash withdrawal at Visa member banks, free access to funds at In-Network ATMs, free ATM balance inquiries, no account overdraft fees, online statements, text access to account information, Visa fraud protection and FDIC insured account.
For more information or questions concerning the transition log onto www.wvpaycard.com.
For more information regarding this release, please contact Gina Joynes at 304-341-0758 or Justin Southern at 304-558-2261.