VA - Some federal retirees still await paychecks

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

October 6, 2000 VA - Some federal retirees still await paychecks

By JANIE BRYANT ) 2000, The Virginian-Pilot

Federal retirees in at least three Hampton Roads cities have contacted area post offices about monthly paychecks that did not show up in the mail this week.

About 30 retirees had contacted the Portsmouth post office by Wednesday, said Georgia Griffin, a supervisor of customer service there.

Norfolk Postmaster Bill Matthews did not have a number, but said post offices in that city also received calls.

``We're not sure of anything at this point, but we are investigating,'' he said.

``This is a rarity.''

Matthews said it is not unusual to have a sporadic call about a missing check.

``But as far as large-scale, this is a very odd situation.''

Robert A. Anderson, a media relations representative for the U.S. Postal Service, said he did not have a tally on the number of calls about missed checks, but the problem has also surfaced in Boston, parts of New York and in Washington, D.C.

They've been in contact with the government agencies that handle the retirement checks, but so far have not determined where the problem lies.

``We're just all working together to find out where the glitch is, but we want to get people the checks first.''

Anderson said he did not have specific numbers and that there ``seems to be no rhyme or reason'' to the distribution of the missing checks.

If something got misplaced in transit, he said, typically it would be a tray and it would mean a large number of checks not making it to one area.

``That's not occurring,'' he said.

It's occurring in spots along the East Coast, he said.

Anderson said the thing his office is stressing to people is to notify the U.S. Office of Personnel Management as soon as possible, by calling 1-888-767-6738.

``The last time I checked, there is a 2 1/2 -minute wait,'' he said of phone lines there.

The checks will be replaced and should arrive by next Tuesday because of the Monday holiday, he said.

In Portsmouth, Griffin said calls had come from all over the city.

Neither Chesapeake nor Suffolk's postmasters could be reached.

Griffin said the checks usually arrive the first weekday of the month, which would have been Monday.

``When you're living from month to month, you expect that,'' she said.

http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1006che.html

-- Doris (reaper@pacifier.com), October 06, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ