Getting Old Paychecks Reissued That Should Have Been Escheated But Weren't

[Urbano]

I am having an issue with 2 payroll checks(they are not lost... I physically have the checks and check stubs for both) from April/May 2007 that I did not cash. I had tried to cash them once at the bank they were written on in late 2007.I asked if they could still be cashed since they were more than 90 days old, but they would not even attempt to cash them due to them being too old(and this was only months after they were written.) The checks stayed in my hand the entire time, so the bank did not even look at the issuer or account.

I had forgotten about them, but just found them when doing my taxes this year... so in April I took the checks, stubs and my id to the ex-employer to ask them to see if they could either contact the bank to o.k. they could be cashed, or to have them re-written. Since then I have called the ex-employer numerous times but they never return a call with any furthur info... and all they keep telling me is that they are looking into it, or waiting to hear from the bank.(Three different employees in their office have made sure to inform me that they "had checks stolen around that time" including the lady that made the copies of my info the 1st day I took them in and she even implied that was probably why the bank would not cash them - which as I said the bank had no clue whose account they were written on, it could have been the president's, my brother's or anyone's, they didn't even look at them!)

I understand they may have to check for their sake... but after 5 months of no contact from them and getting the run around, and since I know that my checks were not "stolen" I'm tired of waiting -  I have tried contacting state offices...

According to KY escheat law, after 3 years the employer should have tried to contact me and then turned the funds over to state treasury if no reply. That should have been done 2 years ago.  I contacted my state treasury, they have no claims from the employer and said they cannot do anything until they have a report/claim filed from them.

I contacted the state labor board and they have a 5 year statute of limitations for me to make a worker's/employee's complaint...so they cannot help me. since it is now over 5 years since the checks were issued.

I was given a number for the KY federal dept. of labor but have tried 3 different times and no direct answer and the prompts do not match what I am inquiring about.

Any advice on what I should do now... would this federal department be who I need to contact, or should I look into small claims? Obviously the ex-employer is not in a hurry to pay me money they owe that should be sitting in the state treasury with my name on it!

[Bama]

Hi Vanessa

Good luck with this one. If the State Department of Labor will not help due to the age of the checks the Federal is not likely to help either. If the statute of limitations is 5 years and they are older than 5 years you are probably just out the money.

shirley