Is our pay screwed up or what? Did the county make a lame attempt to furlough us in the dark?
Some officers were docked 20 hours pay. Some had their pension contributions deceased or increased. Some 4-3 officers have been paid as 5-2 employees. Others have a reduction in pay, while some have an increase. How will this effect our pension at the end of the day?
When inquires were made to personnel, they pointed to Bonita Ransom and Human Resources.
Looks like Ms. Ransom needs to be dragged in front of the commissioners and explain to Lil' Larry why some of us not only lost a holiday, but received a reduction in pay!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
33 comments:
Anyone else's paycheck messed up big time this week? I didn't work on the holiday, but they paid me for it, then right below that took it away from me in a Pension Earning Adjustment. Why pay me for it in the first place when I didn't work it, then just take it right away on another accounting line? I didn't get to bank the holiday, so I lost a holiday, but they also cut my pay by 10%!! So not only did I lose a holiday, I also got furloughed!! I worked one day for the county for free last week and lost a banked holiday!! The county screwed me twice in one week!!
I'm calling an attorney.
IM CONFUSED...MY SALARY WENT DOWN...BUT I LOST 20 HOURS????? I LOST THE HOLIDAY ANDDDD THEY FURLOUGHED ME???? ANDDD I WORKED 40 HRS THAT WEEK???? SO I GOT A REDUCTION IN PAY ANDDDDDD LOST A HOLIDAY???? WTF BOC??? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?? AND DID THIS COME FROM MY PENSION???? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???
They have come to the conclusion you all who protect so many will do nothing to protect themselves.
Nobody but you guys know and those that read the blog.
Bring it to the public. I expect them to say they will look into it.
When are you guys going to wake up and contact a lawyer about a class action suit against the county?
Stogner's back for more!
http://www.crossroadsnews.com/view/full_story/15645317/article-Stogner-gets-new-contract-with-salary?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column
This county has some nerve. I was off on the holiday, Labor Day. I didn't get to bank it for later use. I was hired with the promise I would be able to bank holidays, but that didn't happen here. Fine. I can accept that. But not only did I not get to bank that holiday, but my pay rate was diminished. So, not only did I lose a holiday, but I worked for the county one day last week for free!! How is this fair? How is this legal??
I really wish I was a cute, female employee working for the CEO or one of the commissioners. Maybe then I would have seen a raise at least once in the last 5 years! Oh, and Ms. Sutton, I don't care what my stupidvisor tells me to do, if I pull you over, and you have outstanding warrants, bald tires, pr a cracked windshield, you're getting every ticket and fine that John Q. Public would get!! You're not going to tread on me and get preferential treatment!
HAHA SO glad I left that dump.
Bottom line here folks is that the people who protect us on a daily basis are dirt under their feet; Seniors are dirt under the feet of our Government even though our SS is not costing the government one penny; people who lost everything in a hurricane or tornado is pond scum; some poor person who lost their job two years ago and is out there busting their buns to find another need not apply for jobs listed in the newspaper, etc.; our Reps in DC and County Commissioners and yes even some local politicians and most of our State politicians could give a rats butt less about any of us; and crooks serving in some offices who belong at the Cross Bar Hotel are running wild; our teachers are being ground under their feet; and we have to keep eating their left over dirt. Rebellion time in this Country, County, State and local cities is getting closer and closer by the hour.
Get your facts together email them to channel 2 and 4. They will
investigate.
The BOC still don't know what their job is. Only one on you guys
side is Elaine Boyer.
Contact the best lawyer for your case Lee Parks.
No one knows what is going on.
A lot of citizens don't know about the blog.Don't leave it up to
April Hunt to report a full story.
Her reporting is bias. She should
only report "Special Events" like
the " WALKS" THEY DO FOR EVERYTHING"
To anon 5:46
Do you work for Comm. Boyer?? She is not our friend. She heads the ERC (Employee Relations Committee), we are going to get hosed on the pension soon. This paycheck mess is going to get worse; too. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that their calculations were wrong. Most officers got a one time net pay increase, while others got hosed. No overall savings there, gotta make up for it somewhere, within this budget that expires at the end of the year. Start looking for a Christmas holiday bashing courtesy of those in payroll who used County math once again.
Elaine Boyer is not exactly on the employees side on these issues, she is on the citizens side, which I find admirable. She was the only commissioner to engage me on the pension contribution issue and was forthright in her asessment of the situation in the county, which is a total mess, that the pension and benefits are sucking to much revenue from the total budget of the county.
What makes Boyer different than the rest of BOC is her willingness to talk to the employees, something none of the commissioners will do.
In my opinion the employees are screwed. Low salaries and declining benefits mean only the poorly qualified will work for the county, the best and all the rest will choose to work for an employer who pays market wages and benefits.
In my opinion the county is going down the wrong path here. Instead of cutting pension benefits and raising employee contributions, the county should be reorganizing and getting rid of the "deadhead" management and employees that Vernon installed, and use the money saved to enhance salary and benefits to attract quality, motivated employees.
In my opinion, one thing I have noticed about county employees is that we have a lot of good employees working very hard for sub-market salaries, we have about 20 percent of the employee base that only wants to perform the very minimum of work to avoid being fired, and then we have about two percent that are political staff that are highly paid and immune from employee policy of no raises and reduced salaries.
To recap, in my opinion Commissioner Boyer is not on the employees side in the pension contributions and plans, she is just the only commissioner willing to honestly discuss the issue with the employees. I respect her views and forthrightness. I find it extremely interesting that the only commissioner willing to discuss the issues with the employees is a supposedly "anti-labor" Republican while the supposedly "pro-labor" Democrat commissioners refuse to discuss the issue at all.
Best of luck, guys!
KenC
Anon 8:48, I saw a lot of this contract manipulation in the IT department first hand. All had the blessing of Stognar and Jones, rumor was that the company providing a massive number of temps and consultants were friends with Stognar, that is unconfirmed but considering county business relationships, it cannot be dismissed.
On the EMA contract, I worked closely with the EMA guys on various network projects, The EMA consultant was top-notch and made valuable contributions to the INET.
The DeKalb IT director at the time was "Jib" with an unpronounceable name, an Indian who consulted with the county until Vernon fired the IT director for refusing to lie about racial demographic data to J. Tom Morgan in conjunction with the Parks and Rec racial discrimination suit. Vernon hired Jib as acting IT director and in many respects he was the best IT director I worked under, he was also the worst in terms of ethics, but had the blessing of Stognar and Jones.
DeKalb IT was deficient in many areas and Jib was trying to fix them, It would cost a lot of money as most DeKalb IT employees were inefficient, under-trained and understaffed. Jib brought in about 50 highly paid consultants and was about two years into a four year program to revamp DeKalb IT when he got caught by the audit. Jib was spending big time and if he had been allowed four years he would of transformed DeKalb IT. Instead Jib was fired and the program halted completely. If DeKalb had backed Jib and completed the expensive program DeKalb IT would of been transformed and operating expenses probably lowered by at least 20 percent. Instead about five million dollars was wasted for little to show for the effort.
How did DeKalb IT get to the state that 50 expensive consultants had to be hired to perform Jibs program? Its simple, low salaries and a low training budget. Employees with the proper skill sets were generally unavailable and an 80,000 dollar training and seminar budget doesn't go very far for professional training of professional employees.
I was in one of the few effective sections of IT, and my training sucked, In fact the vast majority of much of my training was on my own time, but paid for by the county. I never received any official compensation for my months of training. Without the training I would of been a dysfunctional employee floundering to understand my job.
My wife didn't like it along with my unpaid on-call status that if I was not attentive would and did get me burned by management.
DeKalb IT is fracked up, Underpaid, understaffed and under trained. Its a near miracle some disaster has not occurred to shut the county down for weeks.
Why is the IT department so important to the county?
Think about it, 65 percent of county business is a computer transaction. Treating the IT workers like dirt or worse is insanity.
My opinionated opinion,
KenC
To anonymous at 7:17 and 5:46, I took both of your advice. I contacted Lee Parks and I am awaiting a reply. I encourage other other officers to do so as well, you can contact his firm here:
http://www.pcwlawfirm.com/page/contact
Maybe if we can get enough of us together on this, something might happen for a change. The FOP isn't doing a damn thing about it.
To KenC, it would seem that some 24 hour employees, namely Fire, would be exempt from this pay fiasco. But, if an open records inquiry was made, would that reveal all that were exempt either by work status and/or by who they work for? I would not doubt that the bloated BOC staff was somehow exempt from this 10% pay reduction. We have already witnessed numerous instances where the career county employee was shafted, while the BOC staff received raises and incentives.
The FOP is doing something. Wiggs is on TV speaking up for the death penalty. He is my idle. The FOP has never had credibility.
The death penalty? I don't recall Troy Davis owing me any money, but the county sure as hell does!
It sounds like some of you had your pay messed up by the pay clerks or you don't understand the checks. If the check says Pension adjustment, then that means you got paid for at least 80 hours of pay and have an overage.
The Pension adjustment keeps any hours over 80 being "taxed" for your pension contribution and also keeps any hours over 80 from being counted in your earnings calculations.
Almost every officer should have received 88.75 hrs (assuming you worked 2 full weeks). With 10% (of 88.75) taken away, this means you should have worked 80 hours and got paid for 80 hours (88.75 x .9). If that is not the case, you need to see your pay clerk to get it fixed.
No banking was allowed for anybody because it was not an authorized holiday. My understanding is the brass were got hit and only got paid for 80 hours minus 10%. It is only the first responders and other critical employees who got a full paycheck. All other employees (except elected officials) got hit for the equivalent of a day's pay. That's going to hurt a lot of people.
If you were fortunate to take holiday off when you were scheduled to work, and didn't work 80 hours like the other 99% of police officers, then you took the hit like all other regular county employees.
Does anyone know if the rumor is true that instead of going to minimum staffing for the unpaid holiday, scheduled public works staff for even more overtime to bypass the pay cut? Is this why we have no money for pension or benefits?
"Burger KIng" type time keeping with your swipe cards is on the horizon. There will be no more rounding off 15 minute increments as you will be paid solely based on your minutes worked (talk about pinching pennies). Additionally, two year plus old water bills are being collected now from former residents who no longer live in the county. Welcome to Dekalb (Democrats Expecting Kindness And Leniency Because).
I worked 40 hours the week of labor day. My pay rate was cut that week by 10%, so I worked for the county for free one day. I didn't get to bank the holiday, no one did. But I worked 40 hours, I should have been paid my standard rate for those 40 hours.
Welcome to Dekalb (Land of the handouts) where only the REAL workers are neglected.
(Because) they know nothing other than existing off someone else's dime.
Anonymous: 9/26 @2:30 pm.
If you worked 40 hours (total of 80 for the pay period), how many hours were listed on your paycheck? If it wasn't 88.75 to start with (before 10% cut) then they must not have entered your time right. Assuming you worked 80 hours on a previous check, you should have received about the same amount on this check (wouldn't be $200 short like if you missed a day's pay).
To: Anonymous
September 26, 2011 2:30 PM
U need to call in sick for the next 3 day. Get back at them. Sick out!!!!!!
On Friday I saw a Dekalb County Parks n Rec Ford E-350 in Snelville at Dons Country Cooking (in front of Northern Tool) loading up a dozen senior citizens from Dekalb County............
Who pays for that? Not the meal, but the driver, the van, the gas, the senior center........???????
Wanna make a bet the county paid for their lunch?
Do you think the commish gives a rats
--- about your paychecks???????
The party goes on!!!!!!
Keep drinking the water fools. At some point it will start to taste bad.
How much are you gonna drink before you get that bad taste in your mouth?
Anon 8:26PM,
I worked 80 hours. The week of labor day, I worked 40 hours. My paycheck had some weird accounting going on. On Monday, labor day, a day I was off, it showed I worked 8.75 hours. Then, through a "Pension Earning Adjustment" right below, those hours were taken away. Huh? Ok, I didn't work them, so I why did you even put them on my paycheck in the first place? Then you just took them away! That's dumb! But my beef is that not only did I not get to bank the holiday, which I fully expected, but my pay rate, listed at the top of my pay check, was 10% less than last month's paycheck! My hours were entered correctly. I just got paid at a lower rate! I'm sick of this crap!
Anonymous Sep 26 at 11:37. Sicking out only gives good officers a bad name. Also there is an excessive absentee policy. So if you are sick too many days without a doctors note, you could get suspended... then it's more days without pay for you!
Don't forget all of this garbage drastically affects your last grossing years thus inevitably lessening your pension payout. Though I suppose all that could freeze it or retire have already and this dump is just a horrific memory.
To Anonymous September 27, 2011 6:28 AM,
OK Lt. Whatever............
Catch me if can........
The county reduced your monthly take home pay and took your holiday. The check shows you getting paid on one line then it shows that same amount taken away. If that was the case then the county double dipped and took hundreds from your monthly pay to do with what they want. Seems someones pockets are getting lined very nice. Now they are going to raise your insurance rates and pension contributions. I'm curious as to why the Feds won't investigate your county since it is so blatant what they are doing. I bet if some called FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. and asked these same questions an investigation would be started. Good luck Ladies and Gentleman it looks like you will need it in the up coming year. I will pray for your safety and a CEO and County Commission that actually cares about you. Remember there are citizens out here that do care and see what is going on. I wish our local media would really investigate and not just do a mall story then back off out of fear of telling the entire truth about what is really going on in this county. I guess there are no more real journalist out there that will fight for what is right and tell a story and continue to follow through until things are put right and in order. God Bless all of you and be safe.
All I can say is that I don't know how most of you that post on here got on our force! We must've dropped the educational requirements after I was hired! It's obvious some of you can't do simple math and that's why they didn't put you in charge of the paychecks. I look at my paycheck and the gross amount (total pay before taxes and deductions) and the net amount were basically the same as they'be been the past several paychecks. Shut up! We got paid where as the rest of the county's employee's lost a day's pay. If you worked a full schedule both weeks and did not get about the same amount of regular pay as you always do, then do something about it-- go talk to your pay clerk to get it fixed because your individual check was obviously not entered right!
I see the pension earning adjustment on my paycheck regularly when I work overtime. This doesn't affect my pay, only what they skim off the top for my pension contribution. If they backed out 8.75 hours of pension adjustment then that is 8.75 hours I didn't get hit with the 8.42% pension contribution. The pension adjustment has nothing to do with what I actually get in my paycheck!
It's people like you complaining about non-issues that makes this blog look like a bunch of whiners. There are a lot of big things to focus on coming down the pipe. So do your research and understand the issues before you get on here and vent stupidity, it reflects badly on all of us.
Whatever you say about the accounting, you have to remember that we're dealing with old payroll systems the county barely pays to keep running. Last year when we had an unpaid holiday, we all lost money on the overtime worked. This time, they gave our payroll people a way to ensure we got the full pay for overtime worked. As much as you'd like your little view of the world to be the only one, they are trying to deal with 45 departments, with probably hundreds of schedules, for 7000 employees. None of us like this, but we all know how fast and far in advance senior leadership decides and plans things. Any time the leadership creates one of these crazy ways to save money, then people have a short time to implement these things.
Post a Comment