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County rectifies paycheck error
YOUNGSTOWN
An error in the Mahoning County payroll department caused about 400 misprinted paychecks to be issued to county employees Friday morning, but almost all the checks were quickly recalled and replaced with new ones.
The printing error on the back sides of the checks caused the endorsement line to be printed on the stubs — instead of on the checks — and the words “non-negotiable” to be printed on the checks — instead of on the stubs, explained Kevin J. Brogley, a county information technology analyst.
County auditor’s office personnel called and e-mailed county department supervisors that the checks were printed backward. The auditor’s office notified Huntington Bank, where the county maintains its payroll account, concerning the problem.
Huntington officials said they’d honor whatever misprinted checks were presented to them, Brogley added.
County department supervisors quickly retrieved most of the misprinted checks from the employees to whom they had distributed them, and returned the checks to the payroll department, which promptly printed and issued new checks.
By 10:30 a.m., all but 14 checks had been returned and replaced with properly printed checks, Brogley said. As of 2 p.m., only four checks remained to be reissued, he said.
Only two of the misprinted checks were cashed, one of them at Huntington, reported Brogley, who said he didn’t know where the other one was cashed.
Nobody reported any bank tellers refusing to cash their checks, Brogley said.
The vast majority of the 1,725 county employees were unaffected because 1,334, or 77 percent of them, have their pay directly deposited electronically into their bank accounts, Brogley added.