At Central Oregon Community College, full time classified employees including librarians, technicians, maintenance workers and janitors, recently found themselves facing a payroll change that, although legal, is causing some dismay.
In March and April, approximately 115 COCC full-time, non-exempt hourly workers were forced to accommodate a payroll update which resulted in employees receiving just half of their paychecks spread out over two months to switch to a lag payroll system. If an employee usually receives a $2,000 monthly paycheck, then for March, they would have received $1,000. The shortfall will be made up when an employee leaves COCC—whenever that may be.
“I could tell you stories of COCC employees who qualified for food stamps, who were unable to purchase a home, who decided to retire early, who quit their job, who took out COCC loans with Mid Oregon Credit Union, and whose PERS retirement benefits (will) be adversely affected – as a direct result of the pay decreases in March and April,” says a current COCC employee, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of losing their job.
The lag payroll system, aka web time entry, did nothing for the classified employees of COCC, except cause many of them financial hardships. – Lani Sykes
This was no accounting error. Rather, it was a plan set in motion by the college a year ago, to move from what they say was an outdated timesheet model that worked on estimated pay to a more accurate real-time web model, known as a lag payroll system.
In an internal document obtained by the Source, a chart shows COCC’s implementation of the system known as “Web Time Entry” which says that on March 15, “you will be paid for 88 hours (approximately half a paycheck), and a month later you will receive a paycheck for the remainder of March.” Employees will receive a full paycheck for Aprils hours by May 15, resulting in a two week lag.
The document goes on to say that employees can better prepare for the change by “identifying any recurring and automatic billing payments, such as mortgage, bank or rent with due dates that may need to be adjusted.”
“But since when is telling your landlord you’ll be late on rent two months in a row a possibility?” says another COCC employee, “I mean, they expect our landlord, utility company, child’s daycare, to just be compassionate and understanding that suddenly I only have half of my income? As if changing my due date was a real possibility? It’s illogical but they make it sound like it’s a possibility.”
The COCC document also encouraged employees to “start setting money aside between now and March 2017 to help with the transition.” As the COCC staff member pointed out, “most of us live paycheck-to-paycheck. We don’t have extra income to just set aside.” Further in the document, COCC states that “the College will make available the option to take extra payroll draws combined with the one-time use of up to 80 hours…of the employee’s accrued vacation to soften the impact of the change.”
“Yeah, that was very gracious of them,” says a worker, “I get paid my vacation and still have to work. So if I wanted to take any paid time off this year, I wouldn’t be able to. It’s kind of bananas.”
An interview request with David Dona, chief financial officer at COCC, went unanswered. However, Ron Paradis, the executive director of college relations, defends the change, stating, “We do know that this was an inconvenience. We understand that and acknowledge that. We were still using paper timesheets. It was a really inefficient system. So employees were being paid at the end of the month for the current month with an estimated hours worked. We would have to go back the following month and make adjustments for any time off, overtime, etc.
“It did result in a lag period for employees for the first month. We did allow them to borrow against their upcoming paycheck for a six-month period, so that someone could spread out the lack of pay,” he continued. Paradis also pointed to an employee going to the Mid Oregon Credit Union where they obtained a six percent rate loan.
COCC employees, however, note that this was because the college failed to provide a no-interest loan of its own. “Other colleges and cities that also dealt with new lag payroll systems…offered transition loans or no-interest loans to affected employees,” says the COCC employee. “When asked to do the same, COCC refused to offer either transitions loans (to be repaid as a deduction from final paychecks when employees leave COCC) or no-interest loans.”
Paradis states, “We do understand there was an extra two weeks, but we did give a number of options… They could take some overtime and it would cover it, they could take some vacation time to cover it, borrow against their paycheck that would cover it, etc. A combination of things.”
The college’s actions and reluctance to adopt measures to reduce the effects of wage cuts may be legal but it gives a negative message to affected employees and sets a dangerous precedent.
When asked why the college didn’t decide to grandfather in current employees to mitigate the lag in payroll, Paradis noted that although that option was discussed, it “would have required two different sets of payroll processing. And we have employees that stay here for a long period of time, 20-30 years, so that would have been a long time.”
Lani Sykes, the president of the COCC Classified Association, notes the strain this has put on the classified members. “This academic year has been an incredibly tumultuous one for the majority of our members,” she says. “The lag payroll system, aka web time entry, did nothing for the classified employees of COCC, except cause many of them financial hardships.”
The Classified Association is due to enter negotiations regarding future employment contracts with the college. “Going forward into negotiations, all we ask is that we’re treated fairly and openly, with respect and recognition, as we are the foundation of the college. We want to trust that all counter proposals will be submitted with professionalism and in accordance with good faith bargaining.”
An unidentified Classified employee sums up the situation, saying: “It’s uncomfortable for staff to complain publicly about the pay cuts. We don’t want to be identified as complainers or disloyal employees. We could lose our jobs.”
She continues, “The college’s actions and reluctance to adopt measures to reduce the effects of wage cuts may be legal but it gives a negative message to affected employees and sets a dangerous precedent.”
This article appears in Apr 12-19, 2017.
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I remember when COCC employees decertified a real union with resources and decided to go independent. Was this Classified Association notified in advance so that they could negotiate changes? Don’t they have a grievance procedure? Can’t they even protect workers who are afraid to say anything for fear of losing their jobs? Maybe COCC employees need to reach out to the labor movement for help in organizing. –Michael Funke
The payroll change the college made was “legal”. They just didn’t consider (care about) the hardships it would create for their employees. The Association had no say in stopping it. The grievance procedure in the Association contract does not include payroll issues. The only changes that can be negotiated are for future contracts. The Classified Association had counsel from an attorney during all of this. Other Public Employers that have switched to Lag Payroll just gave the employees a one time pay out to make up the difference. It would have cost The College $115,000 to give the 115 employees a $1,000 supplement. How much did they spend (waste) looking for a new president??
The lowest paid people at COCC were the only ones impacted. Did the highest paid stand up for them? How did COCC manage to keep this all under wraps until it was a done deal?
That 6% loan for employees was found and negotiated by a Classified Member. COCC didn’t lift a finger to help employees barely getting by.
If it was Administrators that were on lag payroll, what are the chances WTE would have been implemented? Does anyone really believe that the President, VP’s, Deans and other Administrators would have taken 1/2 paychecks for two months?
Well, if they have a “union” contract that forbids grievances when the employer arbitrarily cuts pay that should be changed. Again, I think it is worth noting that these employees had a legit union representing them until they chose to decertify years ago. Some employees were upset with the union rep and rather than push to have him replaced (which he soon was) they got rid of the union entirely. Others complained about dues. Well, dues pay for protections that are now clearly lacking under this unaffiliated, lawyer-run association. This is the kind of stuff you get when you do that. OSEA, the union they left, is affiliated with the AFT, a strong union with resources to fight back when employers pull this kind of crap. In any event, a union is only as strong as its members so maybe the leadership needs to mobilize the members rather than just leave it to the lawyers. There is power in a union…if you choose to use it. –Michael Funke
The college does not care anymore about the classified employees we are just a burden and an expensive one. We currently almost have a one to one ratio of administrators to classified staff at the college. As Mr.Dona says if you do not like it here find another job! Funny we can spend 20 million on Dorms with no air conditioning and still lose money on them every year, but we can not take care of employees who have been here 20 years.
unions – bah – they should vote Trump. He’ll fix it
This was more than an inconvenience- the impact of loans and draws will have far-reaching affects for months to a year. People with precarious housing situations may lose their homes, or have to choose between rent and food or medicine. We are not talking about inconvenience; we are talking about crisis for many of these people & their families.
Existing employees couldn’t be grandfathered in because they might stay at the college for up to 20 years or more? Is loyalty no longer valued, then?
I would really love it if the Source could do a follow up at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2017), regarding exactly how much money the college saved (vs what was budgeted for classified salaries). Money which undoubtedly went back to the general fund, invested in what? Meanwhile, classified employees have lost an entire paycheck in 2017. Yep: if you worked for 12 months, you’ll be paid for 11.
Thanks for the lively comments, readers!
I’ld like to make several points here:
1) The classified voted to dump the large union they were a member of because we did not feel the union rep did us that much good and was suspected of basically doing “backroom deals” with the administration.
2) Many classified don’t want to accept that our very contract states that the accounting functions are a part of management rights. (Payroll is an accounting function.) This same clause was in the union contract with OSEA.
3) The payroll administrator was working sometimes 60 or more hours a week when payroll was due to be sure that payroll was done on time due to the antiquated system.
4) Those people who are afraid of loosing their job don’t seem to realize that COCC has to work very hard and have documented real reasons to fire an employee who is doing their job right.
5) The college hasn’t “saved” any money. The payroll expense just gets carried over to the next fiscal year, it does not disappear into thin air!
6) There is and was much mis-information and fear-mongering being circulated!
7) Yes it created a real hardship for many employees even given a year’s forewarning, yet some people acted as though they were given no warning at all.