MNPEA Steward payroll meeting with county

Payroll errors and take away explained 01-20-15 meeting

On January 20, 2015 several MNPEA Stewards and our attorney met with Hennepin County Labor Relations, HCSO payroll and APEX payroll. This is what steward NDT passed on: 


In: 911 TCs concerns, CO-911 Site, Detention concerns, Steward concerns



Hello all

Well, we met with the County APEX and HR people yesterday so that they could explain to us how they had made the error which resulted in the over-payment and reclaiming of money from our checks in December last year.

Without boring you all with repeating the rather long and tedious explanation they gave us I'll cut to the bottom line as succinctly as I can, bear with me as its complicated.

When we settled the Contract and received our retro pay in October last year the retro amount included a number of different payments:

- For those on Top Step a cost of living percentage increase of 3.5%

- For those not on Top Step an increase to their current Step level to the 2014 rate plus a 2.5 cola

- For those who had a Step advance prior to October 10th, a retro increase to their previous step, plus a retro amount for their new current step

- For those on Mids and Dog a retro increase in Shift Allowance

- For everyone who works weekends a retro increase on Weekend Allowance

- For everyone a retro payment for Overtime, Holidays, Sick days etc, based on the 2014 step levels

[That last one is in bold and underlined as it will be important in a moment]

So, we all got a retro pay amount in our October checks, which varied depending on our Step level, amount of overtime worked etc

Now, in December we get Stability Pay, which, due to Federal legislation, is classed as a premium increase to our pay and must also be included in our overtime pay rate.

We each got a fix amount of Stability Pay, which varied dependent upon on our years of service, then that amount is divided up by pay weeks and applied to a calculation based on the number of overtime hours we worked each week throughout the year, for all of 2014.

What this essentially does is increase our overtime rate above a standard One and a Half rate, so we get a little extra bonus per hour of overtime. This is calculated at the end of the year based on how much Stability pay you get and retroactively applied to the overtime hours worked that year

Hope you're still with me, as we're getting to where the error occurred - What the APEX system did when it ran the Stability Pay bonus was go to the wrong levels of pay

Instead of using the current 2014 rates it reverted to the old 2013 rates when it paid us the Stability Pay bonus, PLUS it repaid us the retro amounts for the overtime and shift allowances that we had already been paid in October  [The line in bold above]

It paid us TWICE for back pay on increased overtime and shift allowance rates - ONCE in October and AGAIN in December.

We were, indeed, incorrectly overpaid by this amount.

There are a number of FLSA calculations and restrictions which apply but this is the basic issue. We were paid twice for overtime rate enhancements.

So that is the explanation of what happened. I for one can accept that their system made an error and now understand how it came about.

My main issue with APEX and the County was the manner in which staff have been treated throughout this whole issue.

I very strongly made a number of points on this matter concerning the fact that we were given a phone number to call and then told nobody could explain how our individual amounts were calculated; they wanted the money back all in one go; that this has dragged on for weeks and that we were basically being treated like children who's allowance was being withheld.

APEX managers apologized for this and accepted their fault.

They have also agreed that they will be sending out an email to those concerned with a more though explanation than I have been able to give you in lay mans terms. There will also be a contact number to talk with somebody who WILL, they say, be able to give more details if staff require that.

Expect this in the next week or so.

Going forward:

APEX state they have fixed the problem, with a patch from the software designer and we will not have this problem in 2015.

APEX and HCSO payroll are developing a program that staff will be able to run to check on their pay and explain some of the payments and allowance calculations.  Expect this in a month or so, they correctly, want to make sure it works accurately before releasing it.

There are plans within HCSO for us to move away from Workforce Director and put more of our pay calculations into the APEX system, which should remove a number of the human error / data entry problems we have experienced.

APEX accepts that our pay slips are almost impossible to understand and they state they are working with the software designer and other users - many other Counties use APEX/Peoplesoft - to come up with solutions.

So, where does that leave us?

Essentially the APEX program screwed up, the County claims they have fixed the problem and promised to communicate with those concerned.

MNPEA will, however, push forward with applying what pressure we can to have the pay slips improved, including requesting an audit of the system by the MN Department of labor.

The Stewards and I will strive to keep you informed

Nicc Newton-D'Taillefer

MNPEA Steward


http://hcso.co-911.com/?p=1012

Stewards List 2015

This is the new steward list for 2015.

Nicholas Newton DTaillefer

Richard Deal

Ben Ebbers

Mike Smith

Chad Vanheel

Jason Herlitz

Dave Bentzen

Alternates:

Phil Miles 
Carol Orcutt

It has been a pleasure serving you as a steward all of these years. Thanks for voting me in every time I ran. I decided not to run this time. It's time to leave it to the next generation. 

This blog will continue as a service and voice to our members.

179A.06 RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF EMPLOYEES.

Subdivision 1.Expression of views.

Sections 179A.01 to 179A.25 do not affect the right of any public employee or the employee's representative to express or communicate a view, grievance, complaint, or opinion on any matter related to the conditions or compensation of public employment or their betterment, so long as this is not designed to and does not interfere with the full faithful and proper performance of the duties of employment or circumvent the rights of the exclusive representative. 

Guest Post from N. Schlitter regarding Social Security

Social Security is running a $75 billion deficit that is projected to grow to $322 billion by 2032!!!

The fund will be there in future years, but what will be your actual benefit?  15-25% of your average income over 35 years of paying in?  Who knows for sure, but it does not look good.

Would you invest in a company that was projected to go bankrupt as bad as the Social Suckurity Fund?

According to this attachment, continuing to pay into Social Insecurity would be the same as investing in a company that has operational costs that outpace revenues.......in the billions!

How will this deficit be reduced?

There are only a few options:

a) raise the SS tax (which has already been proposed for 2017, look it up)

b) reduce benefits to people who are currently retired (pay in more, get less of a return)

c) reduce benefits for future retirees (see above)

d) raise the SS tax cap (for 2014 the cap was $117,000)

e) stop raiding the fund to pay for other programs (yea, right)

f) keep people from bilking the system (see above)

e) place a windfall provision on ALL of an individual's retirement income

g) raise the age of full retirement age up from 67 to 70 years of age

h) borrow even more money from China to pay for it

There is always a disclaimer associated with investing in the stock market: "past performance is no guarantee of future results", the same can be said about the Social Security fund.

For decades people have predicted that the SS fund will be depleted and insolvent, it finally became true in 2010 when it began running a deficit for the first time ever.  For those of you that like to point out that the fund has been predicted to run out of money for decades and hasn't yet.....well, that time is now.

How can anyone that still has 20 to 30 years to work before they retire not see the benefit of an exta 6.2% of their income to invest knowing that when it is time for their retirement  Social Security will almost assuredly pay out less than was promised?  Your "guaranteed" return from SS won't be as lucrative as you might like to think.

Take some time to think about how bad you will potentially get pinched if you continue to pay in (i.e. higher taxes, lower benefits).

The government also taxes SS benefits when it is not your only source of income. 

Does losing another 15-20% of your retirement income after federal and state taxes sound good to you when that money could be in a Roth IRA with tax-free withdrawals?

Investing is a risk, that is undeniable, but is contributing money to an insolvent fund any better?

The government has already begun attacking pensions because there won't be enough funds available to support future retirees. They have the right to reduce your pension benefits at any time.  (If you don't believe that, do a little research, an article was published in the 12/11/14 edition of the Star Tribune.

Like it or not, the same WILL happen with the Social Security fund, go ahead, vote YES if you are okay with this and you are confident that the people in charge of the SS fund can fix the mess of a deficit it has. (remember, the national debt is over $18 trillion and counting, their track record at managing money is awful, we all know this)

Social Security Deficits Are Permanent and Set to 
Quadruple in Less Than 20 Years

Social Security began running deficits in 2010, paying out nearly $50 billion more in benefits than the program received in payroll taxes. Without reforms, Social Security's deficits will rise rapidly and will quadruple in less than 20 years.

INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS (2013)

Source: Social Security Administration.