"This check is void if not cashed after 90 days."
The Brisbane family found themselves wondering what happen if time elapses. What happened to them could happen to anyone.
Hashim Munir's hand may never be the same.
"I can flex it. I just can't fully bend it all the way down," he says.
Hashim was seriously injured in a car accident in 2007. He went on disability from his job at Costco from March to November of that year.
More than a year later he received a disability check for $328. On the bottom of the check was a warning that said, "Void if not cashed within 1 year from date issued."
"According to the check itself, it was supposed to be received on August 1, 2007, but I received this check approximately three weeks ago," Hashim explained.
Hashim and his father called the Employment Development Department to see what could be done.
The first time they called they say they were disconnected. The second time the person who answered declined to help.
"Third time we call, then I ask again. 'Can I speak to your supervisor?' She hangs up on us again," described Hashim's father Haji Jameel.
ABC7's Legal Analyst Dean Johnson says people do need to pay attention to the expiration dates on the checks.
But he adds, there is a caveat.
"That doesn't mean the obligation to pay for the disability goes away. The state still has that obligation and the party still has that entitlement," he says.
The family contacted 7 On Your Side for help. ABC7 asked the state to look into it.
Thee state said the check was issued August 2007 and was presumed to be mailed. They think the check may have gotten lost in the mail.
The Munirs say it would not be the first time.
"It has happened to us before with the insurance billing and all that too," says Haji Jameel.
The state decided to issue Hashim a new check.
A spokesperson for the Employment Development Department says it will replace expired checks for up to two years following an expiration date, but only if the original check is returned and cancelled.
Visit the EDD website or www.governmentclaims.gov to read more about the state's policy on checks.
