Fort Worth school district experiences glitches in new payroll system

By EVA-MARIE AYALA

eayala@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — Bugs in the Fort Worth school district's new payroll system, which went into operation in January, have caused some employees to be paid too little or too much, district officials say.

And some received no money.

Most of the problems have been corrected, Ron Wilson, the district's chief financial officer, said Friday. He said he expected all glitches to be fixed before March paychecks are written.

The district issues about 10,000 checks a month. Some employees are paid monthly and some biweekly.

For checks issued in January, the district logged 1,511 complaints about mistakes, Wilson said. Of those, 695 were for incorrect deductions, 224 for underpayments, 84 for no payments and 27 for overpayment.

From Jan. 30 to late afternoon Friday, the district had received 212 complaints: 88 for wrong deductions and 25 for no payments, he said.

District officials had expected it to take about three pay periods to adjust to the new system. With a new system, “You can have a number of different issues come up, and you just fix them as fast as you can and as efficiently as you can,” Wilson said.

Errors in employees' deductions, such as for United Way or association dues, were the most common, Wilson said.

'Headaches'

One teacher -- who asked not to be identified, believing that it would jeopardize his job -- said his monthly paycheck was wrong last month and this month. On Friday, he had not had this month's check corrected.

“I can't get my car repaired without the $1,100 I was shorted,” he said. Steven Poole, deputy executive director of the United Educators Association of Texas, which represents area public school employees, said the group has received complaints from many Fort Worth employees. He noted that in some cases, the new system did not deduct the association's membership dues.

“As with any new system, you're going to have headaches along the way,” Poole said. “But some employees kept calling us saying that they couldn't get answers or a response from the district.”

Extra steps

Wilson said the district took extra steps to help employees. A hot line and designated e-mail account were activated to answer questions, he said. The payroll office was open for extended hours Jan. 16 and did not close until the last person was helped sometime after 8 p.m., he said.

Once an employee reports a paycheck problem, a check is issued to make up the difference, usually on the same day the employee calls, he said.

Officials informed employees of the new system before it was launched and sent copies of pay stubs before checks were issued so that workers could help the district identify any problems as soon as possible.

“Did we get all of them? No, because we're human,” he said. “And yes, some people were not happy.

“But I think the vast majority of our employees that had some issue had a good attitude because they understood we were in a transition.”

EVA-MARIE AYALA, 817-390-7700

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