My employer gave me a pay advance, but I didn't get all of the money that I would have on my paycheck,why?

Question

My employer has given me a pay advance, resulting from forgetting to put my vacation on the payroll, that I took for a week. So I took the pay advance. But I noticed, I didn't get all of the money that I would have if they would of put my vacation in the payroll. So I think I got withheld money, ( not just a couple dollars) but I wonder if there allowed to do that. Why would they not give me all of my paycheck? It was there fault for not putting it in payroll. Not mine. And I'm being punished for it,why? My pay advance should be as much as my paycheck,right?

Answer 1

You need to ask the payroll department.  Have them explain what happened and have them correct it.

Answer 2

What the company did was legal and a normal way of handling it.  A pay advance is based on a quick and dirty estimate amount in order to give you enough money to "get you by" until the next regularly scheduled payroll run takes place. Then they calculate what the advance should have been and add that to your next regular paycheck.

The advance amount is intentially shorted for two reasons: 1. They want to do something for you quickly and easily, and 2. because its better to have your next paycheck slightly larger rather than slighly smaller than your normal amount.

Hope this helps,  mule.

Answer 3

The extra money paid in one pay period must have thrown you into a higher tax bracket for withholding taxes - or they estimated your taxes and advanced you a lesser amount.  If you are overwithheld,  you will get a refund when you file your annual income taxes.  If they gave you a cash advance, you'll see the difference on your next check when the missing hours are entered and the advance is taken back.