HSTA files grievance, learns 500+ teachers affected by paycheck delay

T

he Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association has filed a Step 2 grievance with the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, demanding financial remedies for the estimated 533 teachers who have missed at least one paycheck at the start of the school year.

In a meeting Monday, top HIDOE officials told the HSTA that “necessary pre-boarding requirements” and related errors and other what they called ”email and paper-intensive activities” caused 419 HIDOE teachers and 114 public charter school teachers to not receive a paycheck on Aug. 20. That’s a substantial increase from the initial number of 377 teachers affected that HIDOE reported to HSTA in late August. Some of those same educators were also not paid their Sept. 5 paychecks.

Top HIDOE officials have agreed to meet with HSTA representatives again on Monday, as the union presses for answers and asks for remedies to help educators affected by the payroll delay. Read the HSTA’s grievance and detailed cover letter to State Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi.

“While we appreciate the additional opportunity for dialogue with HIDOE early next week, our members grow weary of their continued lack of transparency, absence of immediate cooperation, and failure to address the needs of its workforce,” said Osa Tui, Jr., HSTA president.

“Once again, with all of these components missing, we ask our members to help us bring this issue up to the Board of Education at its next meeting on Thursday where we have found board members to be much more compassionate and caring about various employee issues. We cannot continue to allow the department to be indifferent when it comes to the livelihood and well-being of our members in this time of crisis for them,” Tui added.

Tell the BOE how you have been affected by the paycheck delay

If you were not paid on time this year and feel comfortable sharing your story in public with the Board of Education, you can submit written testimony to testimony.boe@boe.hawaii.gov for the BOE’s meeting this Thursday.

Please include the following information in your written testimony:

• “Testimony” in the subject line
• Your name, and your school or workplace
• BOE Sept. 19 General Business Meeting
• Testifying on III. Report of the Superintendent
  • B. Operational updates relating to federal Every Student Succeeds Act amendments and teacher paychecks

You can also testify live on WebEx. See the BOE agenda for more information.

All testimony submitted to the BOE becomes public record and is posted on the board’s website. This may include your full name and the email address you used to send in your testimony. If you want to share your story while remaining anonymous, use the link sent out in Friday’s Member Matters e-newsletter and we will submit testimony on your behalf. Please send your anonymous material to us by 9 a.m.Tuesday so we have time to compile it for Thursday’s meeting. Please note in the form if you are comfortable with a fellow HSTA member or HSTA staff member sharing portions of your testimony at the board meeting while keeping your identity and school or worksite confidential.

HSTA asks HIDOE for remedies for teachers who suffered financial harm

A survey of affected educators conducted by HSTA found the following harmful consequences caused by HIDOE:

• 25% report overdraft fees
• 32% report missed payment fees
• 33% report late payment fees
• 25% report impacts to their credit score
• 6% report an inability to qualify for a loan
• Others report an inability to apply for rental housing (due to no income), denial of housing, and concerns related to medical coverage and medical procedures
• All respondents report many hours spent trying to remedy issues caused by the delay and added stress and anxiety impacting their ability to focus on teaching

“Our members have experienced actual, documented harm due to the failure of HIDOE to process employee records through OTM (HIDOE’s Office of Talent Management) promptly and failing to provide notification of potential paycheck delays,” said HSTA Deputy Executive Director Andrea Eshelman in a grievance letter to Superintendent Keith Hayashi.

The HSTA told HIDOE officials they would be willing to settle the grievance if the department took the following actions for each affected employee:

• Makes them whole for the salary owed with interest paid
• Provides one full day of recall pay to address their financial consequences
• Provides one paid administrative leave day to address their financial consequences
• Reimburses them for all late/missed payment fees and overdraft fees
• Provides options for processing pre-tax EUTF and Island Flex deductions through payrollThe HSTA also requested the HIDOE provide teachers an additional 60 days to pay back the $2,000 checks provided by the HIDOE.

“The HSTA remains concerned about the causes of the pay delay,” Eshelman said, noting the following alarming information:

• The HIDOE provided no basis for its claim that it’s under no obligation to pay teachers Aug. 20 unless they have followed what the department called “standard practice” for educators to complete all pre-boarding steps by July 9.
• The HIDOE provided no evidence that Bargaining Unit 5 (BU05) employees were informed of the department’s July 9 pre-boarding rule and that a “teacher’s start date does not necessarily determine when they will receive their first paycheck,” as cited in a Sept. 4 letter to HSTA.
• The HIDOE could not explain why BU05 employees were allowed to start work (unlike other bargaining units) without completing pre-boarding, which requires completion and submission of the following:
  • Social Security number and birthdate,
  • Valid teacher license or permit from the Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) and
  • Background check and fingerprinting.
• The HIDOE failed to closely monitor the employee pre-boarding process and charter school processing, resulting in HSTA being the first to inform the HIDOE of an issue.

The HIDOE has said that a large part of the paycheck delay was caused by the “human resource transaction process involv[ing] email and paper-intensive activity.” From what HSTA can gather, the issue is not with HIDOE payroll or the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) but with the Office of Talent Management’s (OTM) inability to adequately plan and staff for the needs of the public charter schools who pay the HIDOE for such services.

Hawaiʻi also has 38 public charter schools that operate as independent employers separate from the HIDOE. However, many of these schools contract and compensate the HIDOE to process employee records and administer their payroll. The department also handles payroll for special education teachers at every public charter school.

HSTA was shocked to learn that the HIDOE allocates only one human resource assistant to manage 38 charter school accounts, which consist of more than 1,000 charter school employees, including 413 charter school teachers for this school year. While the HIDOE continues to refuse to provide any information regarding the impacts on public charter schools, it has informed HSTA that up to 114 charter teachers didn’t get paid on Aug. 20. In addition, the HSTA received a partial list of charter teachers from some charter schools through the Public Charter School Commission.

In HSTA’s assessment, the HIDOE has failed to adequately plan and staff for the increasing demands of the charter schools that the HIDOE is paid to handle. Therefore the HSTA continues to advocate for the HIDOE to properly address the harmful impacts for public charter schools and their teachers caused by the HIDOE’s failure to meet their contractual responsibilities related to records, transactions, and payroll.

The HSTA initiated the grievance process in late August, after HIDOE leaders were unable to explain what caused the delays, and repeatedly refused to turn over a list of affected teachers. The department turned over a list of HIDOE teachers affected by the pay delay on Monday.