‘Frustrating;’ Wife of Honda employee says they’re under threat of eviction after short paychecks

TROY — Workers at Honda of America are still looking for missing money and the company is now admitting to employees they’re dealing with two different issues.

Today was the day that the company had promised employees lump sum payments all in an effort to make things right after last week’s checks were wrong for many employees.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Some Honda workers will get less in their paychecks because of ‘tax withholding errors’

News Center 7′s Mike Campbell spoke with a wife of a Honda worker, who didn’t want to be identified because of fear of retaliation by the company against her husband’s job. She told him that they checked their account Tuesday morning to find that her husband had been paid $234.

Their check didn’t show up at all last Friday and they didn’t receive a lump sum payment. They also said that their efforts to call hotlines and get help online haven’t helped so far.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” she said. “We’re on the line of losing our place because of this.”

The woman said her husband’s paycheck has been wrong for several pay periods and now they’re in danger of being evicted.

“We have my wedding ring, his wedding ring that we can sell,” she said. “I hate to do that, but I don’t want to lose the place I’m staying at.”

A spokesperson for Honda said that “lump sum payments went out to associates over the weekend and are reaching associates at various times depending on their banking institution.”

News Center 7 previously reported that Honda told workers on Jan. 12 that employees with Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) had tax withholding errors, making their checks short. In internal emails obtained by News Center 7, we learned that company now admits to ITS employees that there is a second systemic issue.

>> ‘Shocked more than anything else;’ Some Honda workers hundreds of dollars short after payroll error

The HSA problem and tax withholding elections incorrectly transitioned to the company’s new Human Resources and Payroll system. Many workers had their tax withholding defaulted to the highest tax bracket, which is married filing single. That caused their checks to also be much smaller than expected.

The company told employees they are working to fix those two systemic issues, as well as scattered, individual issues.

“We are investigating all reports received and will begin to correct pay discrepancies as soon as our next payday,” Honda officials said in a statement.

Honda believes these payroll issues are a one-time glitch with their new payroll platform and that, starting with the next checks scheduled for Jan. 27, everything should go smoothly for their employees.

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