Published: July 25, 2006 11:07 pm         

School employees’ checks lost in mail

When several Vigo County School Corp. employees didn’t receive their checks in the mail Friday, they became concerned — with good reason.

The checks literally got lost in the mail, and they remained lost Tuesday afternoon.

The U.S. Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center on Margaret Avenue has taken responsibility for the snafu, which occurred last Thursday after the school district delivered two bags of checks and direct deposit notices. One of the bags was processed, and the other was lost.

The school district took many calls Friday, and the post office confirmed the error on Monday.

Connie Flick, plant manager of the Terre Haute processing and distribution facility, conveyed her “deepest regrets” to those facing difficulties because of the lost checks.

“It’s not indicative of our system. It’s indicative of human error,” Flick said. “We think a mail handler may have put it in the wrong container.”

Donna Wilson, school district chief financial officer, estimated that between 300 to 350 checks may have been lost.

If the lost bag is found, “I’ve asked that they not be mailed but returned so we can have a general distribution,” she said.

In the meantime, employees who can’t wait should go to the business office to sign paperwork so that new checks can be issued and stop payment orders can be placed on the lost checks.

“We can’t re-issue checks unless we put stop payments on the original checks,” Wilson said. Also, the checks can’t be issued immediately.

Many employees who signed paperwork on Monday will receive their paychecks today. About 200 employees have formally requested to have their checks re-issued.

It’s been a hectic week for the payroll department, Wilson said. “I have to give credit to payroll. They’ve really stepped up to the plate” in responding to the problem.

Employees who haven’t received paychecks “are really being patient,” although there was some initial panic when people didn’t know what had happened, Wilson said.

The school district also has tried to work with those employees who live from paycheck to paycheck, she said. “We don’t want employees to suffer any consequences.”

Wilson said she’s confident the post office is doing everything it can to locate the lost mail bag.

“About 99 percent of the time, we have no problem with paychecks being delivered,” Wilson said. “This is one of those flukes.”

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.