Why I Don’t Screw With the District Office

Alternate Title: Payroll Blues, Part II

From the June 20th Education Week:

Thousands of Los Angeles teachers have not been paid properly for months because of errors in a corporate-style payroll system that was introduced in January as part of a sweeping, $95 million computer modernization.

The Los Angeles Unified School District acknowledges that the payroll system’s rollout was rushed and tainted by numerous programming glitches and insufficient training of school-based pay officials.

Yet the district teachers’ union has not been satisfied with such explanations. It sued the district this spring, even before a massive failure of the system on June 5—a day the district now calls “Black Tuesday”—when roughly 28,000 employees were overpaid and 4,500 received less than they were due.

The biggest mistake my district ever made with my paycheck was about 5 years ago when they forgot to charge me union dues for 10 months and I didn’t notice. Ended up having an extra $100 a month taken out for 6 months to make up the difference. Was not amused, and that’s when I became messianic about double-checking my own pay stub and telling others to do the same.

The view from the teachers union is here; coverage from the LA Times here.