Paychecks Deposited Into Thousands Of Bank Accounts Disappear After Payroll Company's Sudden Closure
PITTSBURGH (KDKA)-- One minute, their paychecks were deposited into their bank accounts. The next minute, they were gone.
The sudden closure of a New York-based payroll processing firm is affecting companies and employees across the country.
At Liken Home Care in Forest Hills, the company president took immediate action to get his workers paid, even though his firm was not at fault.
Bob Liken told KDKA's Kym Gable, "There was no pre-announcement of any type that this was going to happen. We've never had any problems with this before, so we had to scramble. These people need their paychecks. A lot of them live pretty much paycheck to paycheck so we had to start to re-write hand checks to get some money to these folks."
One of those employees was Liken's manager of technology, Cindy Foreback.
"It's scary. Knowing that somebody going into your bank account illegally and taking money out without it being an authorized transaction and then your bank telling you can't do anything about it. That's scary," Foreback said.
MyPayrollHR had 4,000 corporate clients across the United States, so tens of thousands of employee paychecks were likely affected.
Liken, and other companies that used MyPayrollHR received this automated message last week:
"We regret to inform you that due to unforeseen circumstances, we are no longer able to process any further transactions."
Meanwhile, hundreds of people are posting angry and heartbreaking stories on the Facebook page "Victims of MyPayrollHR."
"We want our employees to know we're fighting for them. We're doing everything we can to make this right," said Foreback.
KDKA has learned that the FBI, Attorney General's office and the Governor of New York have been notified.
Meanwhile, companies whose workers were impacted are urging them to file a complaint with their banking institutions as well.
