Union leaders are demanding answers and an audit after hundreds of DeKalb County teachers and staff members weren’t paid on time Friday.
Deborah Jones, president of the DeKalb Educators Organization, said she predicted this would happen months ago.
“It started in May when they changed the system,” Jones said.
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She said the district changed its payroll software and some administrators and summer school teachers reported paycheck errors.
“The checks weren’t right. They were taking $1,000 here, $500 there, too much tax there,” Jones said. She added that some weren’t even paid at all.
So she warned the new superintendent, Dr. Devon Horton, that more employees would be at risk when classes resumed in August.
“He assured me that everyone would be paid, but my phone kept ringing,” Jones said.
News on channel 2 waiting to hear Dr. Horton’s response.
In a statement, the district said about 300 new hires were not included in the payroll Friday.
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“We have already processed payments for approximately 165 of these employees, and our payroll team is actively finalizing payments for the remaining staff, which is expected to be completed later today,” a district spokesperson said.
SATURDAY, News on channel 2 I checked to see if everyone had been paid and confirmed that the new software caused issues. We are waiting for an update.
Teachers said they were already being charged late fees for not paying their bills on time and wanted the district to fix the problem.
Georgia Federation of Teachers President Verdaillia Turner called for an audit.
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“Some of them have been in debt since June, some of them since May,” Turner said. “All of that should have been sorted out before there were hundreds of people not getting paid.”
Jones wants the district to show its work and explain the problem and what has been done to try to solve it.
“People have rent to pay, mortgages to pay, car payments to pay, kids going to school. You can’t afford not to get paid,” Jones said. “On top of all that, it’s a holiday weekend. It’s the end of summer. People want to do things, but you can’t do anything without money.”
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