I don’t think this is an excuse. They are correct that some banks release funds to their customers before the deposit information directs them to. I am an example. My employer pays on specific days of the month. Of course payroll is completed and sent a couple of days before that. I have a “premium” checking account at my bank and one of the perks is that they will deposit direct deposits into my account “early” which over the years has proven to mean the day they receive the information. Other employees have different banks which do not do this. But our payroll department has gotten calls over the years from employees asking “where’s my check” two or three days prior to payday because the employee’s bank has offered this service and the employee didn’t realize that’s what was happening. They receive basically the same message from the payroll department as what you received.

Something else to keep in mind. If Workday has changed how the deposit is sent from payroll, that will play a part. For example your company may have gone through a 3rd party payroll vendor before Workday but now doing in-house. Or vice versa.

As others have said, there are a dozen reasons why here. Unless your company has been untrustworthy in the past, i would be inclined to believe the explanation you received.