A Boston City Hall payroll glitch caused headaches for many employees who reported delayed paychecks that wouldn’t hit until after the long holiday weekend.
The city’s finance and human resources departments acknowledged the widespread payment issue in a Thursday email to employees who were expecting to be paid this week, saying that as payday falls on the Fourth of July holiday, the “availability of funds may be impacted by different banks’ processing schedules.”
“Please be assured that you will receive your pay,” Chief Financial Officer Ashley Groffenberger and Chief People Officer Alex Lawrence wrote to employees in a memo shared by Mayor Michelle Wu’s office in response to a Herald inquiry.
The city memo indicated that employee checks were dated July 4, which meant that some banks opted not to release the funds until the following business day that occurs next Monday, according to several city employees who spoke with the Herald anonymously for fear of backlash from their employer.
“Unfortunately, I live paycheck to paycheck,” a Boston firefighter told the Herald. “This is one of the biggest holidays for my family during the year. Now, because of this failure of the city, I cannot do anything with my family this weekend.”
The firefighter has worked for the fire department for 20 years, and noticed that his paycheck funds were scheduled to be released by his bank on Monday. There’s never been an issue with late payment due to a holiday during his time at the department, he said.
A Boston Public Schools employee said Thursday morning that she hadn’t been paid, and that paychecks were also missing for her husband, who works as a firefighter, and daughter, who is a lifeguard at the Boston Center for Youth and Families.
Their checks typically clear by Thursday when there’s a holiday weekend, the BPS employee said, and after finding payment scheduled for Monday instead, she called the city to see what was causing the delay.
“I made arrangements to pay bills on time,” the BPS employee said. “I’ve already set it up and I can’t cancel them. I made arrangements for bills to come out today, and now we’re going to be overdrawn. It’s extremely stressful.
“A lot of people are stressed out,” she added. “It’s a holiday weekend, and typically on a long holiday weekend, you spend more money. People had plans and things and I’m sure they’re going to get canceled or people are going to have to use credit cards, and that’s not fair.”
Later in the day, the city sent its memo to employees, saying that the city had been communicating with local banks to try to resolve the processing delays.
For those employees who opt to cash paper checks, “a number of local banks” had confirmed to the city that they were allowing their customers to cash their checks on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s holiday.
Citizens Bank was also allowing non-customers to cash their City Hall paychecks at their branches on Thursday, Groffenberger and Lawrence wrote in a memo that was sent around 2:30 p.m., with most banks set to close shortly thereafter.
Employees who get paid via direct deposit were more beholden to their bank’s processing policies, which would determine when funds were available in their accounts, the two city department chiefs wrote.
“Many banks, including Citizens, the City of Boston Credit Union, TD Bank and Metro Credit Union, are processing direct deposits ahead of July 4,” the memo states. “We are reaching out to our local banking partners to request early processing.”
By 4 p.m., some employees who spoke with the Herald reported that funds from their paychecks had been released by their banks moments earlier.
In those instances, the employees, including the 20-year firefighter and BPS employee who is married to a firefighter, reported banking with the Boston Firefighters Credit Union.
The credit union had initially scheduled funds for release next Monday, but opted later in the day to release funds earlier, according to Sam Dillon, president of the city’s fire union, Boston Firefighters Local 718.
“The Boston fire credit union stepped up and did what they needed to do for our members who bank there, to correct the issue and make the funds available,” Dillon told the Herald. “Local 718 thanks the Boston fire credit union for stepping up and working throughout the day to make wages available to our members.”
Earlier in the day, Dillon had acknowledged that delayed payments were impacting his union membership.
“Timely payment of wages is something that every employee and every family should be able to rely on,” Dillon said around 1:30 p.m. “As our members are getting ready to enjoy the Fourth of July holiday, this is an additional stress that they and their families don’t deserve.”
While the payment issue was resolved for some workers, others are still going without a paycheck this week.
A Boston Center for Youth and Families worker who banks with Capital One said that their check “could clear on Monday,” which will cause their rent to be late.
“I don’t understand why others got paid today, and others did not,” the BCYF employee told the Herald. “Outside of work, life doesn’t stop. We have lives and need our jobs to pay for our survival.”
Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy told the Herald the issue is widespread, and that it’s hard to pinpoint how many employees, who “have so many different banks they use for direct deposit,” have been affected.
Many employees expecting to be paid Thursday, she said, instead “woke up to empty bank accounts.”
“The reality is many of our city workers live paycheck to paycheck,” Murphy said. “Their bills are on autopay. Some will now face late fees. Some will fall behind on rent. And many spent today scrambling to figure out how to get through the weekend without the money they’ve earned.”
The “mistake,” Murphy said, “is the result of a failure across city leadership to plan ahead and protect our workforce from this completely foreseeable problem.”
Councilor Ed Flynn called the payroll snafu a “major embarrassment to the City of Boston.”
“It must never happen again, and if it does, we must demand the immediate resignation of all involved in this mismanagement,” Flynn said.
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Flynn and Murphy filed an emergency Council hearing order on the matter.
Councilor Enrique Pepén, who previously worked for the Wu administration, offered more restrained remarks.
“I hope that employees get paid sooner, rather than later, to make sure that they’re able to make ends meet,” Pepén told the Herald.
Josh Kraft, Wu’s top mayoral opponent, was more pointed in his criticism.
He said, “It is an unacceptable management failure to not pay our workforce on time, especially those living paycheck to paycheck due to the high cost of living in Boston.”
Wu campaign spokesperson Julia Leja said “the mayor is thankful for all the city staff and banking partners who jumped in quickly to address this holiday payday issue.”
“She and her team were personally on the phone throughout the day with dozens of banks and credit unions to coordinate early processing for city employees,” Leja said. “She knows how much it matters for city workers to get their hard-earned paychecks right away and is thankful that so many partners came together to make this happen. She wishes everyone a safe and happy Independence Day holiday.”
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