Public Employee Press

City ordered to stop charging for lost paychecks, must pay back 400 workers

If you paid the city $55 to replace your lost or mangled paycheck, Mayor Bloomberg owes you and about 400 other city workers a refund.

DC 37 recently won an improper practice case that challenged the city Office of Payroll Administration’s practice of charging employees to replace lost or damaged checks. OPA deducted the fee from the replacement check but would waive the fee if the employee enrolled in direct deposit.

The only options the city offered cash-strapped employees were to pay the fee or not get paid at all.

Union attorney Alan Brown successfully argued that the $55 charge amounted to a prohibited unilateral change in the terms and conditions of employment, which must be negotiated with the union.

The Office of Collective Bargaining ruled that OPA made a unilateral policy change that violated the collective bargaining agreement when it announced last May that the city would start charging employees a $55 fee to cover the administrative costs of replacing lost or damaged paychecks.

OCB ordered the city to stop the illegal practice and reimburse about 400 members of DC 37 and other unions in mayoral agencies, the Housing Authority and the Dept. of Education by March 25.

“What this means for our members is that, without our union fighting for our rights, we would always be stuck with whatever cockamamie schemes the bean counters dream up to shift the cost of doing business from the city to the workers,” said Brown. “Thanks to DC 37, this did not happen.”