Site Map Icon
RSS Feed icon
 
 
 
March 29, 2024
SLPOA Online Store
Visit our Online Store for all of your SLPOA merchandise needs.  

Click Here:  St. Louis Police Officers Association Custom Apparel – Alphabet Soup Designs

St. Louis Board of Alderman Meetings
Meetings are held on Fridays at 10am and broadcast live on YouTube
Action Center
St. Louis Board of Estimate
Listen to what the City politicians are saying about the Police and Fire Department budgets.
Contact Congress!
Enter Zip code:
Union Files Grievance Over Payroll Errors
Posted On: Apr 111, 2014
In the electronic age, pay day has become nothing more than an automated transaction on our bank e-statement.  No more do we have the hassle of waiting in bank lines.  Alas, no more do we experience the joy of pocketing the extra fifty or hundred dollars that our spouse doesn’t know about. 
 
Everything’s done on-line now days…the check comes in; the bills go out.  Oh, how we long for those bygone days of licking stamps.  EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the younger coppers are going to have to ask some of the older coppers what I mean by “licking stamps”.  Believe it or not, there was a time that they were not self-adhesive.
 
While the taste of postal glue may not really make you nostalgic, the one thing we may miss in this brave, new electronic age is the practice of looking closely at our check stubs.  Perhaps we’ve become so reliant and so confident in technology that we assume that the computer programs that generate our pay are infallible.  I hate to rain on your e-parade, but it just ain’t so. 
 
After about two months of working with the Police Department and City Hall to try to iron out issues with payroll, the Union filed a grievance on March 31 demanding that management take steps to resolve a host of ongoing problems with payroll. 
 
The errors have been many: not receiving a paycheck; underpaying overtime; not including FTO pay on checks; not including shift differential; taking out too much for union dues/fees; not taking out union dues/fees; dispersing SLPOA union dues to other unions; and, dispersing SLPOA PAC contributions to other unions.  On a side note, the City agreed to start withholding voluntary contributions to the SLPOA Political Action Committee a few months ago.  If you’re interested in participating, see your division rep or call the Association Hall.
 
We’ve had a couple officers step forward with errors that they have found on their checks.  I’m proud to say that before that ever happened, many other errors were identified by the always vigilant staff that works for me at the Association.  While payday may just be a posting on your bank e-statement, for my staff it means hours of poring over the pay roster reconciling what is on the city’s pay sheet to our records.  Their attention paid off in this case as their initial concerns have yielded the discovery of some pretty egregious errors.  Kudos to my staff for the great work they do for our members!
 
Here is the critical point to all of this.  The union doesn’t see a most of the information on your payroll.  For instance, we would have no way of telling if you had been shorted overtime.  But, covered employees have a right under the union contract to receive full compensation for their work and to receive it on-time.  If you are in any way shorted on your pay, the Union has the ability to amend the current payroll grievance to include the damage that you suffered individually provided that you notify us in a timely manner. 
So please, take a few minutes to look back over your pay check stubs.  If you see something that doesn’t look right, let us know.  I know I’m asking for extra work for myself but this is just too important to let go.  Even if you were shorted a nickel, it is a symptom of a payroll system that is flawed and has to be fixed.  We can only assure that that is accomplished if you bring payroll issues to our attention.  As a reference point, from what we can tell, the problems started with the first payroll in January. 
 
Now I know the “I told you so crowd” is going to use this as an opportunity to say “ah ha, City Control!”  The reality is that for years, the Police Department Payroll Division has processed payroll and the Comptroller’s Office in City Hall has generated the pay checks and automatic deposits. That hasn’t changed but the way they transfer the information from one division to another has, which is almost certainly the root of the problem. 
 
While we’ve pledged to work with the Department and the City to resolve this, we’ve also made it clear to them that continued mistakes are simply not acceptable.  Our members have the right to expect timely, full payment of their wages.  We’re not going to wait very long for that to happen.  If it means taking the city before an arbitrator and seeking damages, then that’s what we’ll do.  We’re optimistic that these issues can be resolved.  But, we can’t address things that we don’t know about so, check your check!
 

Member Login
Username:

Password:


Not registered yet?
Click Here to sign-up

Forgot Your Login?

Would You Like to Support SLPOA

Please Donate Here

SLPOA Social Media

       

To purchase a print subscription

of The Gendarme, please click

the link below.

 PA Membership

 PA Upgraded Membership

<< March 2024 >>
S M T W T F S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Site Search
Site Map
RSS Feeds
Newsletter Sign-up
Sign-up for newsletter & email updates
 
 
Saint Louis Police Officers Association
Copyright © 2024, All Rights Reserved.
Powered By UnionActive™
Visit Unions-America.com!

Top of Page image