💰 Employees Not Receiving Pay

Troubleshooting payroll payment failures in FlexPay.

Overview

One of the most critical aspects of payroll processing is ensuring your employees receive their pay on time and accurately. When paychecks or direct deposits fail, it can cause major disruptions and frustration for both your workforce and HR team. This section dives deep into the common reasons why employees might not receive pay, how to identify the root cause, and step-by-step guidance to resolve the issue quickly.

This topic builds heavily on the previous section 🏦 Can’t Add Bank Info since verified bank details are essential for successful payment processing. Additionally, this guide references the 👔 Role Configuration section because proper user permissions can affect payroll execution and employee visibility into their pay.

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Common Causes of Payment Failure

Employees not receiving pay can result from several factors, including but not limited to:

• Incorrect or missing bank account information: As covered in the previous section, unverified or inaccurate bank details can cause direct deposit failures.

• Payroll approval not finalized: If a pay run is not approved by a FlexPay Admin, payments will not be sent.

• Failed ACH transfers: Banks may reject payments due to insufficient funds, closed accounts, or ACH blocks.

• Payroll processing errors: Misconfigured deductions, benefits, or tax calculations can trigger a hold on payment disbursement.

• User role restrictions: Employees or payroll staff without the necessary permissions may not be able to view payment status or initiate corrections.

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Figure 1. Employees Payment Payroll Status

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How to Diagnose Payment Issues

Step 1: Verify Bank Information

Begin by reviewing the employee’s bank info in their profile. Confirm the details are complete, verified, and match the employee’s actual account.

Refer back to 🏦 Can’t Add Bank Info for instructions on verifying and updating bank info.

Step 2: Check Payroll Approval

Navigate to the payroll batch overview and verify if the pay run has been approved and submitted. If it’s pending approval, coordinate with your payroll admins.

Step 3: Review Payment Status Logs

FlexPay logs every ACH transaction attempt. Access Reports → Payment Logs to review failed transfers, rejection codes, and timestamps.

Common ACH Return Codes	Meaning	Recommended Action
R01	Insufficient Funds	Ensure account has funds before next payroll run.
R03	No Account/Unable to Locate Account	Verify employee’s bank details.
R29	Corporate Customer Advises Not Authorized	Contact employee to confirm payment authorization.
R51	Account Frozen	Employee should contact their bank.

Step 4: Confirm User Permissions

Ensure payroll and HR staff have the necessary roles to view and manage payments. Incorrect roles may restrict access to payment statuses and error resolutions.

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💡 Tip:

Enable email notifications for failed payments to immediately alert payroll administrators and affected employees, reducing downtime and confusion.

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Figure 2. Payroll Error Notfication Email

Resolving Payment Failures

• Update bank information promptly: Guide employees through verifying and updating their bank accounts as per the previous section.

• Manually issue paychecks: For urgent cases, consider issuing physical checks or using expedited payment methods while resolving bank issues.

• Re-run the payroll batch: Once corrections are made, reprocess the affected payroll batch. FlexPay’s Re-running Failed Payroll feature (covered next) will streamline this.

• Communicate clearly: Keep employees informed of delays and expected resolution times to maintain trust.

✅ Summary

Employee payment failures are disruptive but generally resolvable through systematic troubleshooting. By validating bank info, confirming payroll approvals, reviewing transaction logs, and ensuring correct permissions, most payment issues can be identified and corrected quickly.

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✅ What’s Next?

📄 Tax Form Issues – Ensure your W-2s, 1099s, and state tax forms are accurate, compliant, and filed on time—without last-minute stress.

If employees aren't receiving pay, you’re already in triage mode. But once you've solved that, it’s critical to verify that your tax reporting remains intact. Missing or delayed payments can throw off tax liabilities, especially when W-2 deadlines and quarterly state filings are looming. In the next section, we’ll walk you through how FlexPay automatically recalculates tax obligations during post-run corrections and how you can review, adjust, and reissue forms when needed. You’ll also learn how to proactively audit employee data to avoid mismatches like name/SSN errors or incorrect state assignments. Whether it’s January or July, FlexPay makes sure you’re never caught off guard during tax season.

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