Many National Park Service employees returned to work this week to find paychecks that were less than usual.
More than a few National Park Service employees returned to work this week glad to be back on the job and anxious to receive paychecks. Unfortunately, many of those paychecks were short of usual, in some cases by up to $1,000.
"I'm still not 100 percent on how these are being calculated," read a comment on a Facebook page for Park Service employees. "I had a deposit last night as well, but it was $350 short of a normal check POST taxes and deductions."
Another employee, who works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wrote that, "We were told at FWS that they are only paying 80 percent right now, we will get the rest later. It was a very confusing explanation."
Added a third, "Well, 43 percent of what is owed is far less then 80 percent. I would be happy with 80 percent. Fortuantely, I can get by. I doubt everyone can."
In Washington, D.C., Park Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum told the Traveler on Wednesday that details of the payroll process were explained on an Interior Department FAQ page devoted to that very subject.
"Our top priority is getting you paid as quickly as possible," the FAQ page said. "In order to accomplish this, employees will receive 'interim or off-cycle payments.' 'Interim or Off Cycle' payments are calculated slightly differently than normal payroll payments. You can expect to receive payment for the number of hours that you normally would have worked, minus deductions for taxes, retirement, health benefits, etc. There will be additional pay corrections processed in the following pay periods to ensure your back pay is accurate."
But a Park Service employee reached Wednesday by the Traveler said the explanation from Washington, D.C., of the shortages was confusing, and that the partial pay was a shock. Though they were told the amount withheld would be "minimal," the amounts ranged from several hundred dollars up to $1,000, based on pay grades, they said.
"I guess the description of 'minimal' means different things to different people," said the employee. "People just came in Monday, 'We're excited to be back at work, we're going to get a paycheck, that's good, we might get two paychecks this week,' and then a third of their check could be gone. That's not minimal, when you take a third of a person's paycheck and hold it back. ...People are feeling right now, what another slap in the face. Do they want to demoralize people even more? Well, they just did a good job of that."
An eight-page memo sent Saturday from the agency's associate director for workforce and inclusion to regional directors, associate directors, and assistant directors acknowledged that bringing payroll matters up to date would likely "require an intense amount of work."
Complicating the paperwork task was the fact that some employees were furloughed without pay but were eligible for retroactive pay, some were on duty but not being paid, some were exempt from the furlough and were being paid, and some went on unpaid leave and were not eligible for back pay.
Since HR staff were among those furloughed, when they returned to work this week they quickly had to tackle paperwork for the pay period that ended December 22, when the shutdown started. That pay documentation would have to be completed by February 4, the memo said, with the pay included in the following pay period. Additionally, employees needed to have "time and attendance" records timely and accurately filed so they would receive all the back pay they were due.
To be on the safe side, the memo said, the interim pay being made was intentionally less than the total amount to avoid making overpayments.
The DOI FAQ page said employees should be made whole by mid-February.
"We are currently in the midst of (pay period 03). If all timecard amendments are inputted timely for the PP03 processing, your payment will include your regular pay for non-lapsed days within PP03, plus any remaining back pay that is due to you for the lapse period that falls in this current pay period (1/20/2019 through 1/25/2019," the site explained. "The official pay day for PP03 is Tuesday, February 12, 2019, although you may see your direct deposit as early as Friday, February 8, 2019, depending on your financial institution."
Comments
I work for USDA, FS. I was Excepted and worked for free 5 days a week git 4 kids. If the parkies are whining about going a while without getting paid, grow up. This is nothing compared to what folks in private sector deal with
Get real and stop crying about a few weeks furlough. MAGA!!!!
I feel sorry for Federal servants having to experience the shutdown. It's sad when any working person loses pay for anytime period. When I was a working man in private industry, I experinced work shutdoiwns and I never got a dime of back pay. I just had to grow up and carry the load with no hope of pay. So, Fed servants, please appreciate that you are getting paid for not working.
NPS employee here whose still waiting on that backpay. Just wondering if anyone has been paid yet?
Yes. Career seasonal and part time employees are having some delays though.
Kurt, This is not unique to park rangers. I work for another agency now and we are in the same position. I have heard gossip that they "estimated" to get it out quickly. Seems odd, since the calculations should be done by computer. Others got more than their paycheck because TSP loans aren't being pulled out yet. I've been told that thinks will be corrected in the next paycheck. The goal was to get people some/most of their paycheck ASAP, because of course waiting till the next payroll date would meeting submitting on Monday Feb 4th and not getting paid til Tues Feb 12th. I for one appreciate that got me most of mine, even if its not all of it.
I am guiding my employees to notify me IMMEDIATELY if something is missing after the Feb 4th/Feb 12th pay check. I'm told that at that point, if something is wrong, it needs to be fixed.
We use a different timecard program than NPS and our big issue was many essential folks worked night diff and sunday diff and some of those paycodes were being wonky so some folks I will need to go and make a correction for them to get paid properly.
Chad--
I received (partial) direct deposits for pp1 & 2 on Jan30 & 31. They were each short ~$300, whch should show up in pp03 Feb 12. If you don't see pp01 & pp02 funds in your account by today (Monday the 4th), contact your AO or timekeeper.
From the memos I've read, in order to run payroll & get funds out to us ASAP, they ran just the core pay (coded internally as 105 or 106 and already approved) and standard deductions (taxes, federal benefits, etc.). They did not do the additional passes for splitting deposits across more than 1 account, or additional withholding such as court-ordered payments or TSP loan payback. They also did not generate earnings & leave statements for pp01 & pp02. Allegedly, they will run everything in time for pp03, making up some but not all deductions and payments, _not_ messing with retoactive rebalancing for multiple deposit accounts. It's not clear whether court ordered payments like alimony, or even TSP repayments, will be done. The earnings & leave statement will be for combined pp 01 - 03.
For Curt above, Quickbooks could possibly do a large payroll run quickly, but when there's 70000 employees, there needs to be a great deal more in the way of cross-checks and consistency/validation checks to make it difficult for anyone to tweak some of the data to embezzle substantial money. It's overhead, but in this case accountability overhead preventing or at least minimizing fraud. My guess is that each additional tweak (split deposits, TSP repay, court-ordered payments) is another external data table, and requires substantial additional validation, as they are the most likely paths for embezzlement.
Some career seasonal status employees still waiting for the first check of any kind or amount.
Why do you think you should get full pay when you're not working? Is this what the "entitlement generation" has expected? Make some damn sacrifices and save for a rainy day!