McDonald's Emplyee Suing McDonald's Over Debit Card Payroll

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**Ahtman**

Article

Gunshannon, 27, of Dallas Township, worked at McDonald's Restaurant on the Dallas Highway from April 24 to May 15. When she received her first paycheck, enclosed was a Chase Bank debit card with instructions on how to use it and the fees attached.

Her future earnings would be deposited into the debit card account and she could access her money from there. Gunshannon never signed the card and when she returned to work she asked her supervisor if she could be paid by check or by direct deposit. She was told the card was the only option.

Gunshannon, a single mother of one daughter, quit her job at McDonald's and went to see an attorney, Mike Cefalo of West Pittston. A class-action lawsuit was filed Thursday in Luzerne County Court by Cefalo on behalf of Gunshannon and other employees, seeking damages, fees and costs.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages and asks for punitive, compensatory and liquidated damages, plus legal fees and litigation costs against the company for its "ill-gotten gains contrary to justice, equity, good conscience and Pennsylvania law."

Gunshannon said she didn't sign the card and chose to not enroll in the payroll system offered because she felt the fees would be exorbitant and actually drop her earnings below minimum wage.

She was to be paid about $7.44 per hour - her paystub didn't list her hourly rate. Minimum wage is $7.25.

According to the complaint filed, the JP Morgan Chase payroll card lists several fees, including a $1.50 charge for ATM withdrawals, $5 for over-the-counter cash withdrawals, $1 per balance inquiry, 75 cents per online bill payment and $15 for lost/stolen card.

Bolded the last part for sheer insanity. Charging fees just to use your paycheck? Ouch.

**Howard A Treesong**

'Use' you paycheck? They charge $1 to make a balance inquiry. So pay just to look at your money.

I've never heard of being paid like this. What a joke.

**KalashnikovMarine**

Chase Bank is freaking EVIL. Don't do business with them PERIOD.

**Crablezworth**

That's insane, how is that even legal?

**whembly**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Chase Bank is freaking EVIL. Don't do business with them PERIOD.

Agreed.

Just stick with CU. The two I've had accounts with were very friendly and don't deal these types of BS.

**AduroT**

I used to go to a plasma bank that paid you via debit card, and while it had some fees on it depending on how you used it, nothing That bad, especially no fee to check the balance on it.

**Ouze**

I've heard of other employers doing this, but they usually give you x amount of grace transactions a month; enough to allow you to withdraw your entire paycheck once per pay period usually. Is that not the case here?

If they include the above limited waivers, I think this is a legal if crappy way to do business. If they do not allow even a single waiver - I'm not so sure if it's lawful. In the US you're really only allowed to dock someone's pay for very, very specific and few reasons - a uniform is one, etc - and "paying it as a kickback to a different multi-billion-dollar conglomerate" wasn't one I remember on that list.

**dogma**

It also, apparently, costs 12 USD to close your account.

Ouze wrote:
I've heard of other employers doing this, but they usually give you x amount of grace transactions a month; enough to allow you to withdraw your entire paycheck once per pay period usually. Is that not the case here?

It is, you are allowed 1 withdrawal per deposit.

**Ouze**

And, if you leave the card unused for 3 months, they eat $10 per month thereafter.

If you have the option to withdraw the account once per deposit for free as Dogma says, I reaffirm my opinion that this a crappy, predatory, and legal way of doing business.

Pick up the can, citizen.

**poppa G**

Dude, I used to work there. They didn't do that while I was on board.

**whembly**

Ouze wrote:
And, if you leave the card unused for 3 months, they eat $10 per month thereafter.

If you have the option to withdraw the account once per deposit for free as Dogma says, I reaffirm my opinion that this a crappy, predatory, and legal way of doing business.

Pick up the can, citizen.

Yeah... that's all kinds of fethed up.

(disclaimer, I'm reporting to d-usa that I'm drunk at the moment so that you can consider my post accordingly

)

**TheCustomLime**

Seriously? Wtf... I remember a monthly fee from my card (Which I don't get thanks to being a student) but nothing that ridiculous. This reminds me of those refillable "gift cards". I got one and Jesus Christ was it a scam. They were actually going to double my monthly fee under the guise of correcting a membership error.

Why doesn't the employer just fill their checking accounts directly via paypal or something? Less Fees and less fuss.

**Ouze**

TheCustomLime wrote:
Why doesn't the employer just fill their checking accounts directly via paypal or something? Less Fees and less fuss.

Because obviously Chase pays McDonalds a kickback for every employee they enroll in this ~~scheme~~ program.

**whembly**

Ouze wrote:
TheCustomLime wrote:
Why doesn't the employer just fill their checking accounts directly via paypal or something? Less Fees and less fuss.

Because obviously Chase pays McDonalds a kickback for every employee they enroll in this ~~scheme~~ program.

Yep.

Chase ( and et. & el.) are sneaky bastich.

**Seaward**

That, and a lot of hourly employees don't have checking accounts to begin with or just prefer hard copy checks over direct deposit.

**sebster**

Holy fething gak. It took them about 80 years, but it looks like companies, sorry that should be 'job creators', have decided that what they'd like is a return to company towns. I mean, that's basically what this is, the employee getting paid in whatever form the employer likes. Incredible.

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Chase Bank is freaking EVIL. Don't do business with them PERIOD.

And so, it appears, are McDonalds.

**KalashnikovMarine**

We knew McDonalds was evil already though. Seriously that food is an eldritch horror that would make Lovecraft squirm

**Seaward**

Big Macs are delicious, blasphemer. So what if you need to nap for eighteen hours after eating one? We have that kind of time now!

**sebster**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
We knew McDonalds was evil already though. Seriously that food is an eldritch horror that would make Lovecraft squirm

True.

**dogma**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
We knew McDonalds was evil already though. Seriously that food is an eldritch horror that would make Lovecraft squirm

I do enjoy my eldritch, McMuffin horrors.

At any rate, "evil" isn't a thing Lovecraft was noted for.

**KalashnikovMarine**

McDonalds the corporation is evil, the food they serve is a cosmic monstrosity made real.

**Ahtman**

The McRib was formed by Slaanesh. You know it is wrong, and yet its temptations are to strong for mere mortals to withstand.

**Ouze**

Also a point in favor of the McRib is a product of Slaanesh argument, it's pretty hard to argue anything other than the taint of chaos could cause the ferocious warp-storms they reliably form in your bowels.

I used to be a big fan of them until I almost crapped myself on a flight back home*, and have the fear of that almost-incident has managed to cure me of them even years later.

*Eating a McRib before flying? As Jack Donaghy would say, “A guaranteed disaster, like eating a burrito before sex.”

**Soladrin**

Debit cards have fees...? Wat.

**WarOne**

Soladrin wrote:
Debit cards have fees...? Wat.

It is a new practice and many corporations are doing this (including the one I work for!).

It's basically a cheap and easy way for a company to outsource their handling of payroll to another company (such as Chase) for getting their paychecks.

Under the system we use, our company either allows direct deposits or this pay card. The pay card is in essence a debit card that where the money is held by a third party contracted by our company to be an intermediate (Chase just happens to back them up with a major credit card symbol to allow them use of a bank). Your initial withdraw is free so you can head over to a bank and take out all of it. There are also specific ATMs you can withdraw the money from without charges.

Now other uses can cause this card to get fees attached on. What I am curious about is how biased that story is because we have no other information except for the outraged mother (who is right to be angry, this is a poor way to pay employees who have to eat foot to mouth) and we would need to actually look at all the accompanying documentation because that is how we can find out if what she says is accurate.

**reds8n**

banking is a wee bit different over here

http://www.helium.com/items/781840-differences-between-us-and-uk-checkingcurrent-accounts

http://www.helium.com/items/2210003-the-differences-between-us-and-uk-checkingcurrent-accounts

**Kilkrazy**

If you have a bank account, you can't get McDonalds to pay your salary by paying it into your account?

Have I understood it?

**Ahtman**

Kilkrazy wrote:
If you have a bank account, you can't get McDonalds to pay your salary by paying it into your account?

Have I understood it?

Not this McDonald's, no. As far as I can tell from the article this is a franchise McDonalds and not a Corporate on, which makes me think Corporate is probably none to happy at the moment.

**skyth**

You may get one free ATM withdrawl, but you can only take money out in multiples of $20 most of the time...With minimum wage workers, that can be an issue.

**Frazzled**

Ahtman wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:
If you have a bank account, you can't get McDonalds to pay your salary by paying it into your account?

Have I understood it?

Not this McDonald's, no. As far as I can tell from the article this is a franchise McDonalds and not a Corporate on, which makes me think Corporate is probably none to happy at the moment.

Agreed.

The more paranoid in me would say its also a way to avoid paying SS and other benefits, effectiely cash under the table, but I'm probably just being paranoid.
I don't see why people are getting on JP Morgan. They're not the one saying you have to use the debit card. They are just providing a debit card. Thats like being mad at Stop N Rob because the price of cigarettes is high. Er, they just sell 'em.