As an office manager, I need to know if it is legal to accept a postdated check. And what are the risks of doing it?
It's certainly legal to accept a postdated check, but it should be no surprise to you that people who give you postdated checks often don't have the funds in their accounts to cover the check when it's issued. They usually hope you'll wait until the date on the check, with the intention that funds will be there (maybe it's dated for the next payday).
It's also permitted for a bank to pay a postdated check before it's due, unless the customer has specifically told the bank not to honor that particular check until its date. That might give you the idea that you should deposit the check and move on, but the law also permits the bank to refuse to pay the check until it's due, if the bank wishes to, so there is a greater risk involved in taking postdated checks, even though they are legal.
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It's certainly legal to accept a postdated check, but it should be no surprise to you that people who give you postdated checks often don't have the funds in their accounts to cover the check when it's issued. They usually hope you'll wait until the date on the check, with the intention that funds will be there (maybe it's dated for the next payday).