The Math's the Same

Today is payday, but this week, my paycheck was slashed in half. Money's been lean since my maternity leave, which, other than the 3 weeks paid at 60% by short-term disability, was unpaid. And then when I came back to work, I was only part-time for 2 weeks, so I was only making half of my salary. My previous paycheck was my first full paycheck, but as the first full paycheck in months, it only began to make a dent in our financial deficit. What with daycare, we've been on a tight budget. So we've really been looking forward to getting more of a foothold with a steady full paycheck from me.

Unfortunately, my employer's incompetent HR didn't cooperate with that plan. You see, we elected a flexible spending account for daycare - a pre-tax deduction. And when we filled out the form, which says "Enter your ANNUAL CALENDAR-YEAR contribution, not a per-pay-period amount," we did just that. We multiplied the weekly daycare fees times 52 weeks a year, which came out to way more than the maximum you could withhold, so we elected the maximum - just under $5000. There are 26 paychecks in a year, so that works out to about $192 withheld from every paycheck. Except my HR department seems to have a different understanding. They take whatever you fill in as your annual amount, and divide it by the number of pay periods left in the year at the time you enroll. So, in my case, $5000 divided by 9, or more than $550 to be withheld from every paycheck.

Uh, WHAT?! I had even been contacted by HR when I submitted my form, and they had explained that they calculate whatever amount you elect and divide by the number of remaining paychecks, regardless of your intention for that $5000 to be spread out over the calendar year, as their own language implies. So they "fixed" it, and my last paycheck had only $192 withheld. But today's paycheck? There's $550 withheld. And though I lost my shit brought this to their attention, they were unable to correct it, and so they're adjusting the amount withheld from the remaining 8 paychecks of 2011 to balance out the extra they took out of this single paycheck. Fine, except that doesn't help me pay my bills for the next 2 weeks. Like daycare, for instance, which is now going to constitute half of my pay for the next 2 weeks. And since I'm the only full-time employee in my household, the next 2 weeks are going to be ramen filled.

Then I thought, oh! I can at least recoup alot of what's missing from my paycheck by submitting my daycare receipts for reimbursement, something I haven't done yet. A good plan, but when I logged on to my daycare FSA, it only shows the initial $192 contribution, not the extra $550 they also withheld this time.

I would say that I would work even less today than I normally would on a Friday to express my outrage that half of my net pay is gone because of someone else's incomptence. But then again, 50% times zero is still zero.