This Best Practice article describes the best practices for processing refunds and applying credits and dues/fees. For a downloadable version of this article, click here. For additional help or guidance, please send a detailed email to support@unitehere.org.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Refunds
Legal Memo link: Retention of Overpaid Dues
Workers should be notified of overpayments & refunds should be processed no less than quarterly.
Affiliates/Locals may have a threshold in which they issue refunds (recommend between $1-10)
There is no limit to the period a member can request a refund for an overpayment.
Application of Dues/Fees
Locals may adopt a practice of always satisfying Initiation/Reinstatement month first. If your local wants to adopt this practice, please submit a support request at support@unitehere.org.
Outside of this practice, Dues and other fees should be applied to the month & fee they are intended for.
Should an overpayment (credit) be received, the overpayment may be applied to a balance owed satisfying the month of the Initiation/Reinstatement fee first.*
Before applying a credit to a balance owed, make sure the charges on the worker’s record are correct and checkoff payments have been processed for the month(s) with a balance for workers with checkoff deductions authorized.
Special attention should be taken when a local does not have a flat monthly dues rate or does not have the actual dues rate set up in the system yet.
Self-Pay Payments
Payments received in excess of the balance owed from a Self-Pay Member is not an overpayment since the member intended to pay. Many Self-Pay members intend to pay their dues for future months.
Overpayments/Credits from TIMSS
Overpayments from TIMSS should be entered on the record in Se Puede.
If overpayments were not applied to balances owed in TIMSS, the net of the credit/balance owed should be used.
Partial Payment Amnesty
If the amnesty adjustments are not yet reflected in the system records, overpayments received after the amnesty period cannot be applied to partial balances owed during the amnesty period.
Records assessed/re-assessed for the partial payment amnesty period, after the amnesty is processed in the system should be manually adjusted to reflect the approved amnesty.
Review the Partial Payment Amnesty period monthly to ensure no one has updated records to have a partial balance in that period.