Purpose: 

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agencies with information and new instructions for processing letters received for the outreach and escheatment of uncashed payroll checks for calendar year 2023.

Agencies must treat signed and returned letters as a written request for reissuance of a payroll check and must submit a payroll check stop payment and replacement request through the Request Stop Payment worklist in PayServ.

Affected Employees:

Employees with one or more uncashed payroll checks originally issued in calendar year 2023 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 will be mailed out in September of 2024 to all employees with a 2023 uncashed payroll check greater than $19.99. A second outreach letter will be sent via certified mail in October of 2024 to all employees with a 2023 uncashed payroll check greater than $999.99.
• Beginning with the outreach in 2024, signed letters will be directed to the employee’s most recent agency payroll office on file. Agencies must treat signed and returned letters as a written request for reissuance of a payroll check.
• Any checks that remain uncashed after March 31, 2025, will be stopped and the funds will be escheated and remitted to the New York State Office of Unclaimed Funds (OUF).

Effective Dates:

       Effective for payroll checks issued between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023.

Eligibility Criteria:

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

OSC Actions:

OSC will mail outreach letters in September of 2024 to all employees with a 2023 uncashed payroll check greater than $19.99. A second outreach letter will be sent via certified mail in October of 2024 to all employees with a 2023 uncashed payroll check greater than $999.99.

OSC will remit all payroll checks originally issued in 2023 that remain uncashed as of April 2025 to OUF.

Agency Actions:

Agencies must treat signed and returned letters as a written request for reissuance of a payroll check and must submit a payroll check stop payment and replacement request through the Request Stop Payment worklist in PayServ. See Payroll Bulletin 1964 for more information and instructions for submitting the stop payment and replacement request. Signed outreach letters returned to agencies prior to March 31, 2025 must be processed. 

Agencies must correct the employee address prior to submitting the request for reissuance if an address change is provided by the employee in the Corrected Address section of the letter. See attached sample letter. 

Agencies must notify affected employees that stop payments will be issued for all uncashed payroll checks originally issued in 2023 and the funds will be remitted to OUF in April 2025. 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.

Agencies should verify the agency return address for all Department ID(s) associated with their agency as listed in the Control-D Report NPAY529 (Agency’s Address Listing).

• If the agency address is not correct, agencies must email [email protected] providing the correct address prior to September 1^st. Please indicate “Agency Return Address” on the subject line and include your five-digit Department ID number(s) along with the correct return address in the email. 
• Note:  Changes made to the agency return address will also impact Form W-2 and the return address for direct deposit advice statements.

Agencies may contact OSC if they are unable to access the specified check through their Stop Payment worklist for payroll checks not originally issued by their department. 

Questions:

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

Changes to agency addresses may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.