Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agencies with information regarding the outreach and escheatment of uncashed payroll checks for calendar year 2020.

Affected Employees

Employees with one or more uncashed payroll checks originally issued in calendar year 2020 are affected.

Background

Abandoned Property Law §102 requires uncashed checks become abandoned property after one year.

Abandoned Property Law §1422 requires State agencies to perform certain payee notification requirements:

• An initial outreach letter has been sent to all employees with a 2020 uncashed payroll check greater than $19.99. A second outreach letter has been sent via certified mail to all employees with a 2020 uncashed payroll check greater than $999.99 in October of 2021.
   
• Signed outreach letters that are returned to OSC by employees will be treated as a written request for reissuance of a payroll check. If responses are received prior to January 1, 2022 the checks will be reissued. Any checks that remain uncashed as of April 2022 will be stopped and the funds will be remitted to the NYS Office of Unclaimed Funds (OUF).

Effective Dates

Effective for payroll checks issued between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.

Eligibility Criteria

Employees with non-negotiated payroll checks are listed on the Control-D report NPAY539 for agency use.

OSC Actions

In accordance with Abandoned Property Law §1422, an initial outreach letter was sent to all employees with a 2020 uncashed payroll check greater than $19.99 on September 20, 2021. A second outreach letter was sent via certified mail to all employees with a 2020 uncashed payroll check greater than $999.99 on October 29, 2021.

Signed outreach letters returned to OSC prior to March 30, 2022, are treated as a written request for reissuance of a payroll check.

Any 2020 pay checks that remain uncashed as of April 25, 2022, will have stop payments processed and the funds will be escheated and sent to the Office of Unclaimed Funds (OUF) on April 27, 2022.

Agency Actions

Agencies must notify affected employees that stop payments will be issued for all uncashed payroll checks originally issued in 2020 and the funds will be remitted to the OUF on April 27, 2022. Employees can visit the Unclaimed Funds - Search for Lost Money website to search for money remitted to OUF and submit a claim to recover funds.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Uncashed NYS Payroll Checks mailbox.

For more information regarding the escheatment schedule, see the Operational Advisory 9 – Current Year Escheatment.