The Mission Localreports that in the eight months since the San Francisco Unified School District has updated its payroll system, problems remain. Hundreds of teachers and staff are dealing with the financial burdens of payroll errors, which include misclassifications of credentials, tax deductions, and health benefits.
According to the news website, the District hired Alvarez & Marsal, an international management consulting firm, on a nearly three-million dollar contract to address the payroll errors plaguing the EMPowerSF system.
In the meantime, for some of those affected, the consequences of these errors have been devastating. In a region where, according to a United Way study, one in four families struggle to afford food, housing, and medical care, these errors compound the challenges for teachers and their families surviving in the Bay Area.
Reports of unpaid rent, bills, lowered credit scores, were among some of the many consequences of these payroll errors, according to the Mission Local. More than 70 grievances related to payroll were reported to Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators San Francisco, the teachers union.