Baltimore City Finance Director Says Many Payroll Issues Have Been Resolved
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- After issues with city payroll, the finance director says almost all of the problems have been resolved.
Some city workers, like firefighters, say that's not true and are calling for an individual audit of the system.
Issues started back in January after the December 2020 rollout of a new payroll system called "Workday."
Months later, some Baltimore City firefighters say they're still not being paid what they earned.
"Paychecks that are short or without any wages. Hourly rates and overtime rates that are incorrect. Incorrect routing of direct deposits, off-cycle checks not delivered in a timely manner, out of title payments for persons working in a higher rank not paid or paid incorrectly," a representative for Baltimore City firefighters said.
Baltimore City Director of Finance, Henry Raymond, says his committee has been chipping away at the long list of problems they encountered in January.
"Of those 19 reported priority issues, 18 of the 19 have been closed or fixed," Raymond said.
The city says it has written thousands of checks for back pay.
"We don't have anyone with hours reported with no pay," Raymond said.
Some city employees got overpaid. Raymond cites remaining issues with hazard pay, meal pay allowance and double time.
Testimony like this one is shining a light on the problems that remain.
"I haven't been made whole for the month of January or February. I just received an off-cycle check and it was for 48 hours but incorrect overtime incorrect holiday pay," a city worker said.
The committee says more training is needed on the new system, but a representative for the fire union says that's not the issue.
"I hope I have heard this fiasco blamed on human error for the last time because the implication is that our employees are not submitting their timesheets correctly, and this is a false narrative," the representative said.
While Baltimore City Council voted in favor of having IT, HR and the Finance Department continue to dig into these issues, they say another public hearing will be held if they are not resolved.
