DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News is learning more about the ongoing payroll issues for DeKalb County Schools teachers and staff.
At the end of September, DeKalb County Schools still had more than 70 teachers and staff who had not been getting paychecks.
In a presentation at a recent school board meeting, 72 employees had not been paid as of Sept. 30. The district also said that 51 employees had gotten duplicate checks, worth a total of $155,888.85.
According to the same presentation, the number was down from two weeks before, when 112 employees had not received paychecks on Sept. 15, though more than a dozen higher than the number of employees who weren’t paid at the end of August.
Employees of the DeKalb County School District are paid on the 15th and last day of the month each month, according to the district.
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As reported by Channel 2 Action News, employees missing paychecks in DeKalb schools started on Aug. 30. The first day of school was Aug. 5.
A representative of Dekalb Educators, Deborah Jones, told Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco she predicted this would happen months ago.
“This started back in May when they changed over system,” Jones said, referring to when the payroll system used by the county school system was changed.
In September, Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes heard from workers who are struggling due to the paycheck issues, many of whom said they live paycheck to paycheck, and the delays and discrepancies were hitting them hard.
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Several district employees said they were falling behind on bills because their checks are consistently late and incomplete. They asked to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their jobs.
“It never was really under control. I have colleagues who have issues with every check that comes out. One colleague hasn’t received a correct paycheck in months,” one worker said.
In the weeks since the payroll issues started, DeKalb County Schools said they have made progress to address the problem.
According to the presentation shown to board members, the district had performed at least 1,267 pay corrections as of Sept. 15. A number for corrections made as of Sept. 30 was not available.
As far as solutions, the school district said it had increased payroll runs to help reduce paycheck issues and had “increased efficiency of data audits” which they said found gaps in payroll processing.
Additionally, employees received additional training to mitigate pay issues, according to the presentation, and some pay incentives were provided to staff early.
While the district is still working on fully resolving the payroll system problems, they said there were still several ongoing challenges and discrepancies, such as maintenance issues and differences with the salary roll for about 300 employees for the fiscal year 2025 employee listing.
The district presentation also said transition pay and summer work pay were both outside of the time and attendance portal used by the payroll system, and that there were challenges with capturing hourly work, extra activity and stipend payments. Payment for vacation and sick leave are functional, but pay for personal and bereavement time were still seeing some struggle.
On top of the other challenges and issues, the district report said the processing time for each payroll warrant was “excessive” and is not set up to streamline single payments at a time, in addition to “excessive payroll processing.
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