Employee Returned Check Policy
Employee Returned Check Policy
The following rules apply to all employees that have checks return unpaid to the UHD
Cashier’s Office. (Effective 01/29/14)
Employees with Returned Checks:
Checks may be accepted from employees in payment for goods, services, fees, fines
or for cashing (up to $50) with two pieces of identification: a University of Houston-Downtown
student, staff, or faculty I.D. and a driver’s license.
Texas statute, under certain circumstances, defines as theft, the writing and/or presenting
of a check against insufficient funds or a closed account or the issuance of a stop
payment after goods or services have been delivered. If an employee presents a check
to the university that is returned unpaid by the employee’s bank, the following will
occur:
Within one week of receipt of the unpaid check, Student Accounting will notify the employee by certified mail and email with “read receipt” that the check was returned and for what reason(s); e.g., “nonsufficient funds,” “account closed,” or “stop payment.”
The employee is then required to redeem the check within ten calendar days of the date of the notice at the Cashier’s Office. Cash, cashier’s check, travelers’ check, or money order must be used to redeem the check.
A returned check charge of no less than $20.00 will be assessed to the employee at that time.
An employee who fails to make the returned check good within the ten-day time frame
may have the following sanctions applied:
Immediate loss of check-writing privileges until the check is redeemed.
Suspension of any favorable personnel actions such as promotion, transfer, etc.
The transmittal of the check to the District Attorney or Justice of the Peace for possible prosecution. The employee will be liable for all collection and legal fees.
The employee’s supervisor will be instructed through the college/division administrator to notify the employee that if the check is not made good within an additional ten days the employee will be suspended for three to ten days. Further, the employee will be terminated at the end of the suspension period if the returned check has not been redeemed.
An employee who presents two checks to the university within one year that are subsequently
returned unpaid by the bank (regardless of whether they are made good within the ten-day
period) will be entered on the Master Check List and will forfeit his/her check writing
privileges for one year. Persons whose names appear on the Master Check List must
provide payment to the university by cash, credit card, money order, or cashier’s
check until they qualify for removal from the list. A check writer may petition the
Director of Student Accounting and Cashiers for removal of his/her name one year after
the first check has been made good, assuming the second one has also been redeemed.
(Instructions for petitioning for removal of one’s name are available from the Cashiers’
Office.)
Any subsequent check submitted to the university that is returned unpaid will result
in permanent suspension of that employee’s check-writing privileges.