SHARE organizers met recently with UMass Memorial to discuss payroll updates since the international takedown of Kronos in December of last year. (You can find more context and read previous SHARE updates here.) According to Sergio Melgar, UMass Memorial Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer:
Payroll has corrected roughly three quarters of the 25,000 reported discrepancies, and issued 5000 payments. (The average is 4 discrepancies per employee). They are currently resolving roughly 500-750 discrepancies per week. They expect to complete those corrections in July, and will then run a comprehensive computerized audit of the system. That audit should catch any Kronos discrepancies that were not reported by employees. Supervisors will have to double-check numbers against their department schedules.
As predicted, fixing the large, complex set of problems is taking many months. Many other businesses, municipal governments, and other institutions continue to be in the same boat. UMass Memorial’s challenge is heightened by outdated software and multiple sets of rules to follow (based on each union’s negotiated agreement, etc.).
Starting in August, attention will move to correcting the PTO. (In the meanwhile, the numbers in the system continue to be incorrect – your accruals balance should NOT be used to deny a vacation request).
Details about employees repaying the hospital for overpayment have not yet been decided. In general, we’re told that employees who owe money will be able to re-pay over about 10 weeks. Employees who want to pay back what they owe in one lump sum will have that option. Employees who recognize that they’ve been overpaid can volunteer to begin paying before the guidelines are established – contact payroll to discuss options.
Payroll aspires to have all PTO corrections completed and have all systems back to normal by the end of the 2022 calendar year.
Meanwhile, SHARE is advocating for clearer communication. Some SHARE members are having a hard time determining whether Payroll has yet addressed the discrepancies they’ve submitted, or confirm whether they are on the list to get corrected. Some members were surprised to realize that the corrections had been made to their paychecks without their noticing.
SHARE urges UMass Memorial to report out to each employee whether they have been corrected and by how much, so that SHARE members can figure out of it they think it was done correctly.
SHARE supports the idea that SHARE members could repay any money owed through earned time instead of cash.