Because of a payroll error, about 7,000 Carilion Clinic employees using direct deposit were not paid Friday.

Carilion officials said they tried throughout the day to correct the error but were unsuccessful.

Employees were notified in an e-mail sent by the senior vice president of human resources at 5:13 p.m. Friday that they would have to wait until Saturday at the earliest to collect paper paychecks.

About 7,000 of Carilion's 11,400 employees use direct deposit, according to spokesman Eric Earnhart.

Carilion is Roanoke Valley's largest employer, and the payroll gaffe involved employees at the health care system's locations throughout Southwest Virginia.

The error was discovered early Friday morning, when Carilion officials realized an employee had not transmitted the payroll file to the bank that processes direct deposit for Carilion. Typically, Carilion sends the file to Wachovia and the bank then distributes payroll amounts to each of the individual bank accounts of employees.

"Our attempt to electronically transfer direct deposit funds to our employees this afternoon was not successful," Earnhart said in a statement sent to media.

Carilion also attempted to print paper checks in time to distribute them to employees by the end of the day, but could not complete the printing process in time.

The not-for-profit organization promised to reimburse employees for any bank fees, including late fees and overdraft charges, that occur because of the error.

"The problem was not caused by a computer error, or any bank," Earnhart said, adding that Wachovia "bent over backwards" to help fix the problem.

"We regret that this happened and apologize to our employees for the inconvenience it has caused," he said.

Locations have been set up throughout the region for employees to collect their paychecks. Employees will be able to pick up their checks starting today or Monday.

"For employees who cannot pick up their checks and are not working Monday, we will mail checks or make other arrangements for their convenience," Earnhart said.

For more information Carilion employees may visit: www2.carilion.com/hr/internal/index.html.