State wants staff The state Department of Public Safety is trying to recoup overpayments to its workers that may total about $1 million in a payroll problem that stretches back for years.
pay returned
It says a payroll problem caused
160 workers in public safety to
be overpaid by $1 millionBy Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.comThe 160 employees include clerk typists, prison guards, social workers, nurses, cooks and deputy sheriffs, said Clifford Asato, Public Safety Department fiscal officer.
"Overpayment has always been a problem with the department," he said.
The problem usually arises when a salaried employee does not show up for work but gets paid anyway, he said, adding that that occurs because payroll is submitted before the time is actually worked.
But one employee, who has been with the department for 22 years, questions why the state is trying to recoup overpayments that should have already been taken care of through a union agreement.
"We're being told we owe money from the past, yet we have signed rollover papers that allows the state to take it out of vacation or comp time," said Robert Shook, a supervisor at Oahu Community Correctional Center. "Now they're coming back after they've taken out the money already and say we owe money again."
Ted Sakai, department director, said he could not comment on a particular case but that the rollover agreement did not take effect until 1998 or 1999.
Shook said his overpayments stretch back eight years and total $1,942.84.
For others the overpayments run from $100 to $20,000. But one worker was overpaid $30,000.
Although an exact figure was not available yesterday, Asato said the average overpayment is around $6,000 to $7,000, meaning the 160 employees together may owe roughly $1 million.
At its highest, the amount of outstanding overpayments to the state was $3 million in 1998, Asato said.
Both Asato and Sakai said the problem of overpayment has been alleviated by a 1998 law that allows a five-day payroll lag.
"The '98 law was to stop overpayment from occurring as best they could. Keep in mind the state is in a weak position because it pays employees in advance," Asato said.
Before 1995, overpayments were corrected simply by adjusting an employee's paycheck.
"I would just go into payroll and take the money that (the employee) owes," Asato said. That ended in 1985 when the department was told it was violating state law, he said.
Under current procedures the employee's union is given 30 days to review each overpayment case before the employee is notified. And employees are given a chance for a hearing.
But under the civil service reform act passed by state lawmakers last year, the state will no longer have to inform the union nor offer hearings before retrieving the funds.
"Come July 1, once I confirm it with the time and attendance people and I notify the employee, I am to take the money immediately," Asato said. "If I make a mistake and I overcharged you or took money that I was not supposed to, then I have to pay you back interest, but at least you get the money back right away rather than having to wait through a prolonged hearing process."
Shook said he never had a hearing.
His 30-day window to request a hearing came and went before the department forwarded him documents that would help him understand and appeal his case, he said.
Shook, a dues-paying member of the United Public Workers union, also said he is frustrated by the lack of union support.
UPW, he said, would not provide him an attorney who could explain state law and payroll to him. Instead, he was referred to a shop steward or contract negotiator, who are unqualified to interpret law, he said.
"To understand what they're saying, you gotta be trained," Shook said.
UPW would not take calls requesting comment.
Art Ross, a lawyer who has been asked by Shook to look at the case, said it looks as if the state is not doing anything wrong as long as it is following procedure. But he said he will continue to study the matter, saying for some people $50 or $100 a paycheck means a lot.
Sakai said there have been improvements in the system and that the problem is improving. He pointed to a law that dictates that any employee who runs out of leave or incurs two or more incidents of overpayment be put on a delayed payroll.
"Many employees don't want to get on delayed payroll, so they make an extra effort to show up," he said. "But also, if somebody does run out of leave and incurs (overpayments), we put them on delayed payroll, and this prevents overpayments from becoming too large."
Also, he said, OCCC became the first state program this summer to use an automated payroll system, which the state Department of Accounting & General Services is trying to implement in other departments, he said.
According to Asato, there is no statute of limitations on how far back the state can reach. "For debts to the state, no," he said.
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