Public Employee Press

Local 1457 rally hits payroll snafu at DJJ

About 100 Dept. of Juvenile Justice counselors demonstrated Dec. 7 against a new payroll system that has underpaid hundreds of employees in recent weeks.

As DJJ failed to properly credit workers for sick leave, leave time and overtime, the timekeeping glitches led to docked pay.

Some members were emotionally devastated when they found themselves short of funds to pay for their Thanksgiving family meal or meet their car loan, credit card and mortgage payments.

“This problem has created tremendous hardship for our members,” said Alex Parker, president of Juvenile Center Employees Local 1457. “We have had people who received checks for 25 cents instead of maybe $800 to $1,000.”

After DJJ changed the payroll policy a few weeks ago without consulting the union, Local 1457 leaders quickly mobilized members, filed a grievance, reached out to the media and prepared for the protest at DJJ headquarters at 365 Broadway. Accompanied by a giant inflatable rat, members Rasheed Humphre and Laiwola Odejuwon led the Local 1457 demonstrators with chants like, “Hey hey, ho ho, this administration has got to go,” and “No pay, no peace.” Members carried signs with messages like “DJJ, Where’s Our Pay?” and “Timekeeping, Stop Sleeping.”

After the civil service newspaper The Chief ran an article about the fiasco, DJJ dispatched top managers to the city’s three juvenile centers to reassure workers that the problem will be addressed. Deputy Commissioner Andrew Gonzalez wrote an apology to the staff on Dec. 4.

The payroll problem began when DJJ stopped accepting timesheets that were not accompanied by additional forms to account for absences or overtime. The local’s grievance hit the agency for not notifying the union about the policy change. Making things worse, the agency failed to replace a mail carrier who used to take the forms to the central office, meaning that payroll lacked the necessary documents to process paychecks.

Local 1457’s mobilization over the issue prompted a response from management, which has ensured the DJJ employees that it will clean up the mess.