When veteran city firefighter and union chief Robert Sledgeski started receiving e-mails from his members stating their paychecks were wrong, he was concerned ? if not surprised.
But he said city officials, including the top brass in the fire department, were slow to react to his complaints about payroll snafus that put hundreds of extra dollars into checks ? and sometimes shorted dozens of firefighters.
“We?re talking about an extra $500 in every check per pay period of some of my members, which they have to pay back. I didn?t want to see this get out of hand.”
The errors, which include several dozens of cases of firefighters who have been underpaid, have fire union officials worried about a new payroll system.
“We had a captain that was paid for only one day,” he said. “That?s a lot of money to be shorted.”
City officials said a new automated payroll system, called “e-time,” is designed to replace a less efficient paper-based system. The recent errors were limited and are outweighed by gains in efficiency, officials said.
“We?ve identified 135 firefighters and 57 employees throughout 11 city agencies who have been overpaid since Oct. 2,” said Sterling Clifford, spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon. He said the overpayments lasted for three pay periods. He did not have details about overpayments.
“The average overpayment is $38 per paycheck, but we?re doing a thorough review of all the departments to identify any other problems,” he said.
Paul Blair, head of the city?s police union, said his members had problems when his department became the first agency to be paid by the new payroll software in 2006.
“When it first started, officers were not even getting paid at all. We had weeks where officers did not get paychecks,” he said.
“It?s a time management system, not a payroll system.”
For now, Sledgeski said his biggest concern is the back pay for an emergency medical technician who was promoted a year ago but has yet to receive his raise.
“They need to stop pointing fingers and pay him,” he said. “They need to get this system working correctly.”
