Banks Holding Up Eastern Paychecks : Airlines: Atlanta firms worry about checks bouncing, but the defunct carrier says there is cash to cover them.

Banks and stores in Atlanta refused to cash the final paychecks of Eastern Airlines employees after the carrier’s shutdown, which also briefly stranded some military personnel trying to report for duty in the Mideast.

“I have a wife, two kids, a baby on the way and no money,” said Bill Snider, an Eastern mechanic who found that a check-cashing store would not take his $491.14 payroll check. “This is just ridiculous.”

Bank South Corp. and First Union National Bank said they will accept Eastern payroll checks only for deposit, placing them on hold to see whether the checks clear Eastern’s banks.

Eastern said the banks were “making a mistake.”

“There is absolutely no reason why banks should not be cashing checks, other than just plain ignorance,” said spokeswoman Karen Ceremsak. “There is cash to back every check out there. All existing and current Eastern checks are good. We are still under Chapter 11.”

Meanwhile, officials in southern Florida were trying Sunday to assess the damage from the closure of Miami-based Eastern.

Florida Labor Secretary Frank Scruggs predicted that Eastern’s shutdown would put 10,000 to 14,000 Floridians out of work and cost the state about $40 million in workers compensation.

Gov. Lawton Chiles, anticipating a rush of workers filing for unemployment benefits, ordered the labor department to open two temporary job centers in the Miami area, Scruggs said.

About 7,000 of Eastern’s 18,000 employees systemwide are in South Florida, most at Eastern headquarters at Miami International Airport.

Eastern stopped service at midnight Friday after almost two years in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

In Atlanta, Trust Company and Citizens & Southern National banks are trying to find out whether payroll checks are covered under Eastern’s Chapter 11 protection before deciding whether to cash them. Federal banking regulations allow banks to hold checks for as long as 10 days, if there is reason to believe that the checks will bounce.

“Because of the timing, we don’t have all the information we need,” said C&S; spokesman J. Scott Scredon. “If the trustee is saying the money is there, we will honor the checks.”

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines on Saturday refused to honor Eastern tickets at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport that were held by three Navy medical officers en route to Saudi Arabia.

Navy. Lt. Cmdr. Lynn Nicolai and two members of her medical unit didn’t know that Eastern had shut down when they approached Eastern gates at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport.

“Eastern told us Delta would take the tickets,” Nicolai said. “Well, we told the Delta people we’re on active duty and that they should certainly honor our government tickets. They basically told us our tickets are worthless and, ‘Tough luck.’ ”

Unsure whether other airlines would honor the government-purchased tickets and fearing further delays, Nicolai used $900 of her own money to get the group to their next stop.

“On top of all the other pressures and worries of this war, and having to leave my little daughter, I have to face this,” the frustrated nurse said.

Delta spokesman William Berry said that if the Eastern ticket had been issued by the military, it would have been accepted. But he said that although Delta was allowing travelers in the middle of an Eastern flight to continue, it would not accept tickets held by people beginning their trips.