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I'm a summer associate and we were supposed to be paid on Friday (we were to be given paper checks for our first payday). However, I was never given the check. I have rent and bills I need to pay and this is financially hurting me since it takes multiple days for checks to go through. How do I ask for my pay from HR while not over stepping and can I ask for it to be sent by direct deposit now since it takes a shorter amount of time to receive the money than depositing a check?

Just ask them. Politely, but if you were told Friday and you didn't get it Friday, it's not overstepping to ask about it. You can always couch it as wanting to make sure you didn't misunderstand if you want to be particularly self-effacing. I doubt they'll be able to convert this first check from paper to direct deposit, though.

I agree with Nixy. Just ask HR. By the way, did other summers get a check? I know at my firm, the mail delivery folks will not deliver checks unless you are in your office when they make rounds and they can hand you the check. If I am not in my office, it gets mailed to me. Maybe something like that happened to you.

You ask for your pay by not overstepping by asking for your pay. It's not hard. Checks don't take longer than direct deposit. You take a check to the bank, deposit it, and then you have immediately available funds. If they truly forgot, which would be amazing, initiating some form of EFT would take longer.

some firms don't like to leave your salary check in your office if you aren't there while they are walking around. You could have been in the bathroom or anywhere while they were doing this. Ask HR, don't ask if they "forgot".

UnfrozenCaveman wrote: Checks don't take longer than direct deposit. You take a check to the bank, deposit it, and then you have immediately available funds.

Checks usually take a day or two to clear, though if you have $0 in the account and deposit a huge check it could take longer (though being a payroll check from a major law firm might help). You can ask the bank to make some of the funds available immediately (and some of them will do without you asking, depending on your relationship with the bank and how much $$ you have in the account). If your bank says no or takes more than a day or two to clear a check, go join a credit union.