ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — New York State United Teachers, on behalf of the Rochester Teachers Association, is in the process of finalizing a lawsuit against the Rochester City School District.
The lawsuit follows months of payment issues in the district, with teachers and other employees finding themselves not being paid correctly or on time following the transition from using payment vendor PeopleSoft to Oracle in July.
Rochester Teachers’ Association finds breach of privacy in payroll system
The statement announcing the lawsuit, issued by RTA President Adam Urbanski, details that previous class action suits brought by RTA in September will soon enter arbitration. Additionally, a request has been made to extend the option to bargain for interest on delayed payments and reimbursement for costs due to payroll issues to include employees who continue to be impacted during the school year.
“Nearly 1,000 RCSD employees continue to have unresolved issues – more than half of them affecting RTA members. The District’s lack of responsiveness, bad communication, and marginalization of the serious nature of the payroll fiasco continues to erode the already low morale of teachers and other staff,” the statement reads, “RCSD employees should not have to constantly wonder whether their next paycheck will be correct and on time – nor should they have to constantly spend their own time chasing down payroll errors. We absolutely refuse to accept this as the new normal. That is why we are pressing the District to switch payroll to a competent (non-Oracle) vendor.”
‘It’s our livelihoods’: Payroll woes persist for Rochester City School District
The Department of Labor and the New York State Comptroller’s office have also reportedly been contacted to intervene in the matter. Urbanski says the Comptroller’s office has told RCSD the issue requires “immediate attention,” but adds, the relief has yet to arrive…