1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

HISD Asks Employees To Refund Pay

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by RocketMan Tex, Sep 5, 2012.

  1. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 1999
    Messages:
    18,452
    Likes Received:
    116
    More HISD executive-level shenanigans. And they want us to approve a $1.3 billion bond in November? Don't know about y'all, but if I was an HISD employee, I'd be cleaning my shotgun right about now! :eek:

    http://blog.chron.com/k12zone/2012/09/3591/

    HISD asks employees to refund pay

    Sep 05, 2012

    3,700 Houston ISD administrators, clerks, secretaries and other employees are being asked to forfeit vacation days or return cash to the school district to correct a payroll problem that has lingered for 12 years.

    HISD’s chief financial officer, Melinda Garrett, said in an interview this week that the district had made the unusual decision in 2000, when it changed payroll systems, to automatically advance pay to newly hired employees. The employees then had to return the extra money, either with unused time off or with cash, when they left the district.

    Now, to the surprise of employees, HISD is asking them to repay their debts within the next two years, or sooner if possible.

    On Wednesday afternoon, officials were calculating the total amount owed to the district.

    The problems stem from the district’s change of payroll systems in 2000. To keep employees on the same payday schedule, district officials at the time decided to advance newly hired employees extra money instead of having them skip a paycheck, Garrett said.

    The president of the Houston Federation of Teachers union, Gayle Fallon, is questioning the legality of HISD’s move, as the employees did not make the payroll error and, in fact, some did not know about it until now.

    “Should the employee have known? Could they look at their check and tell? No,” Fallon said. “Most of the ones that have called us had no idea what this was about and why is this happening.”

    The employees affected are mostly higher-paid administrators and lower-paid office workers. Few teachers are affected because the payroll error only involved employees who work 12-month schedules.

    Employees were overpaid for between nine and 20 days, according to Garrett and HISD’s controller, Kenneth Huewitt. Most of the employees, nearly 75 percent, have enough unused vacation and leave days to return to the district to cover the overpayments. Employees who don’t have enough accrued days or who want to keep their days will have to repay the district in cash.

    Huewitt said the district decided to seek the money now in part because he recently heard concerns from longtime employees who were upset that when they retired, they had to forfeit unused time off back to the district.

    “It took a little while to come up with some options that were legal and that were employee friendly,” Huewitt said.

    Fallon, however, said her attorney is researching whether the district can demand repayment for years-old debts, especially when the employees were not given a choice about accepting the extra money upfront.

    The school board signed off on this repayment plan at a meeting last month without public discussion.

    Employees hired after July 2011 are not affected because the district stopped the practice of advancing pay, Garrett said.
     
  2. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2002
    Messages:
    42,710
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    i don't think this error should cause you not to vote for the bonds. its not like they stole the money or used it to cook the books.
     
  3. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 1999
    Messages:
    18,452
    Likes Received:
    116
    What causes me not to vote for the bonds is seeing the waste I saw while working there for 4 1/2 years. I actually worked on the project referenced in the article. They were warned against making the decision to advance employees money, but they went ahead and did it anyway. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. Financial accountability at HISD will not take place until Garrett and Huewitt are replaced. They've been cooking the books there for years, trust me.
     
  4. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2002
    Messages:
    42,710
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    just curious, was the warning more of a technical warning like their reasoning was flawed, or was it a warning that it was just a stupid idea, or was it both?

    also, i'm not going to argue about hsid accountability with you, i'm sure you know more than me. however, i do know their schools are in bad shape, and if you are 100% right, then maybe they should clean house first but the schools need upgrading.
     
  5. thadeus

    thadeus Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2003
    Messages:
    8,313
    Likes Received:
    726
    The first part of the house to be cleaned (while 'cleaning house') should always be the room that holds the administration.
     
  6. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    34,059
    Likes Received:
    13,408
    Eh, it doesn't make them look that great as an employer, but I don't think it's something to be up in arms about either. It's just accounting in the end.
     
  7. Cohete Rojo

    Cohete Rojo Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2009
    Messages:
    10,344
    Likes Received:
    1,203
    They overpay employees, admit it, and then seek an extra $1 billion? Were these people HISD graduates themselves? When I worked for a government institution you could have your pay advanced but you had to request for the advancement, it wasn't just autmatically done. Sounds like a sketchy system.

    Famous last words of Arthur Andersen?
     
  8. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 1999
    Messages:
    18,452
    Likes Received:
    116
    Both. Many, if not most, companies make a new employee work through one pay period and then give the employee their first paycheck at the conclusion of the second pay period. HISD chose to do this pay advance so that new employees did not have to work through a pay period in order to receive their first check.
     
  9. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 1999
    Messages:
    18,452
    Likes Received:
    116
    It is something to be up in arms about if you are an HISD employee and you were never told that you would have to pay money back upon resigning your position or being terminated. When I began working for them, I was not told, yet they did this to me (advance the pay to pay it back later). Fortunately, I worked on that project so I knew about it anyway, and I knew that when and if I ever resigned, the best time to do it was at the end of a fiscal year, in order to minimize the effect of the payback. When I resigned, I gave notice so that my last day of work was on the very last day of the fiscal year.
     
  10. thumbs

    thumbs Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2002
    Messages:
    10,225
    Likes Received:
    237
    If HISD wants its fiscal house back in order, slash the top administrator's bloated pay by half for the next 10 years. That would be a nice start.

    It's high time that Texas consolidates all the school districts, thereby eliminating 75% of duplicate administrators. The money budgeted for schools could be divided by the total number of students and allocated on a pro rata basis in, say, 10 super grade school regions.
     
  11. HR Dept

    HR Dept Contributing Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2012
    Messages:
    6,792
    Likes Received:
    1,223
    Interesting.
     

Share This Page

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now