San Francisco teachers say they have yet to receive a paycheck due to a system error
As teachers in San Francisco are heading back to the classroom, their union says they're facing another payroll crisis.
San Francisco Unified School District transitioned to a new pay system at the beginning of July, and in the last few weeks, educators have reported over 100 errors. That includes Leslie Hu, who has been waiting for her paycheck for nearly two weeks.
"It impacts our ability to live," said Hu. "What am I going to eat for lunch tomorrow? How am I going to pay my car insurance?"
Hu is deeply rooted in the San Francisco Unified School District. She has worked as a coordinator for 17 years and she even grew up in the district.
"I was born and raised in San Francisco and spent kindergarten to 12th grade in SFUSD," said Hu. "I have come back here and spent almost my entire career in this district because I love San Francisco, and I love our communities, and I want to give back."
But it is becoming difficult to stay when she doesn't know how she'll make ends meet as the district continues to have payroll issues.
In 2022, SFUSD started using the EMPower system, marking the beginning of significant payroll challenges, resulting in thousands of staff not being paid properly.
"As an educator we don't get paid even a living wage and so $6,000 impact my ability to pay my basic bills, my rent, food," explained Hu. "It is a hardship not to be paid what I'm owed."
Hu, and other members of the union, attended Tuesdays Board of Education meeting to express their concerns during public comment.
Executive vice president of UESF, Frank Lara, said this is just another attempt to shed light on the issue, after already bringing it to the district leaders over the past few weeks.
"The response we're hearing form the district is 'of sorry, that person who was responsible for transferring that data didn't do it'," said Lara. "That's not an acceptable answer."
He's worried it's going to become a bigger issue now that the school year is beginning and all staff is working.
In a statement SFUSD said, "if there are problems with employee pay, we are acting fast —investigating, making corrections, and issuing payments as needed. "
They've created a website to update employees, but for people like Hu, it just doesn't feel like enough.
"It's really, really hard to keep coming back every single day if I just don't know when I'm going to get paid," said Hu.ust don't know when I'm going to get paid," said Hu.