The Auburn Enlarged City School District teachers union gave a lump of coal as a Christmas gift to the district leadership Monday, filing a grievance after learning they may have a few less dollars for holiday shopping or vacation plans during the recess next month.
The Auburn Teachers Association and the district are at odds over payroll during the holiday vacation and when the first paycheck of the new year will be made available.
In the past, the district would provide teachers advanced pay if a payday landed during the holiday vacation, a provision embedded within the ATA contract. But the district is not doing that this year, citing a decision rendered by the state Comptroller's Office in 1962 that states that public school teachers are not entitled to advanced pay.
This year, the first payday of 2009 lands on Friday, Jan. 2, the last day schools are closed for the recess.
According to ATA President Sally Jo Widmer, language inside the teachers' contract states that, “In the event that a paycheck falls due on a non-school day, it shall be made available on the last school day preceding this date.”
Based upon the contract, teachers are expecting their paychecks on Dec. 23, the last day schools are in session.
That practice, she said, has been done for all but two of the last 40 years and grievances were filed on both occasions when that did not occur.
And the same is being done for the third occasion, with the ATA filing a grievance with the board of education Monday. If the board sides with the district, she said, the ATA will go to the American Arbitration Association, seeking a paycheck issuance date of Dec. 23 as well as a fine against the district.
“While this may seem to be a very small issue, when people budgeted in such a manner so that they are able to provide for their families and be able to have a special holiday because they knew these revenues are coming, it's very difficult to have their legs pulled out from under them at such a late time,” Widmer said.
Superintendent J.D. Pabis declined to comment, citing the grievance, pointing only to Opinion 62-309 from the state Comptroller's office dating back to 1962 dealing with districts providing advanced pay to teachers if the payroll period fell within the Christmas vacation.
The comptroller concluded that, “Salary for the Christmas vacation, such vacation not being 'earned and credited,' may not be paid in advance to a teacher in the school system.”
The district and the ATA first met about the 2008-09 payroll calendar last May, during which the district asked the ATA to waive the contract language. The ATA declined and asked the district to follow the contract, Widmer said.
During a second meeting with the ATA on Nov. 6, the district stated that checks would not be issued on Dec. 23.
“Quite frankly, we think the district waiting all this time between May and November was out of malice knowing full well that we will now seek to have the board of education and then a third party decide the issue in a very short period of time,” Widmer said. “Were we to have had the full eight months or nine months available to us, we could have processed this grievance and have a decision rendered in such a manner in at least a timely fashion so we could find out one way or another where this was going to go.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
In the past, the district would provide teachers advanced pay if a payday landed during the holiday vacation, a provision embedded within the ATA contract. But the district is not doing that this year, citing a decision rendered by the state Comptroller's Office in 1962 that states that public school teachers are not entitled to advanced pay.
This year, the first payday of 2009 lands on Friday, Jan. 2, the last day schools are closed for the recess.
According to ATA President Sally Jo Widmer, language inside the teachers' contract states that, “In the event that a paycheck falls due on a non-school day, it shall be made available on the last school day preceding this date.”
Based upon the contract, teachers are expecting their paychecks on Dec. 23, the last day schools are in session.
That practice, she said, has been done for all but two of the last 40 years and grievances were filed on both occasions when that did not occur.
And the same is being done for the third occasion, with the ATA filing a grievance with the board of education Monday. If the board sides with the district, she said, the ATA will go to the American Arbitration Association, seeking a paycheck issuance date of Dec. 23 as well as a fine against the district.
“While this may seem to be a very small issue, when people budgeted in such a manner so that they are able to provide for their families and be able to have a special holiday because they knew these revenues are coming, it's very difficult to have their legs pulled out from under them at such a late time,” Widmer said.
Superintendent J.D. Pabis declined to comment, citing the grievance, pointing only to Opinion 62-309 from the state Comptroller's office dating back to 1962 dealing with districts providing advanced pay to teachers if the payroll period fell within the Christmas vacation.
The comptroller concluded that, “Salary for the Christmas vacation, such vacation not being 'earned and credited,' may not be paid in advance to a teacher in the school system.”
The district and the ATA first met about the 2008-09 payroll calendar last May, during which the district asked the ATA to waive the contract language. The ATA declined and asked the district to follow the contract, Widmer said.
During a second meeting with the ATA on Nov. 6, the district stated that checks would not be issued on Dec. 23.
“Quite frankly, we think the district waiting all this time between May and November was out of malice knowing full well that we will now seek to have the board of education and then a third party decide the issue in a very short period of time,” Widmer said. “Were we to have had the full eight months or nine months available to us, we could have processed this grievance and have a decision rendered in such a manner in at least a timely fashion so we could find out one way or another where this was going to go.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
