The government of Maryland says it has been shortchanging thousands of workers who earn extra pay for overtime and night shifts, a mistake discovered when the state installed a new payroll and timekeeping system this year. On Friday, state officials notified four public-employee unions — AFSCME, AFT Healthcare-Maryland, the State Law Enforcement Officers’ Labor Alliance and the Maryland Professional Employees Council — about the issue and said they plan to work with the unions to develop a process for determining the scope of the problem and how to resolve it. Union officials say they have raised concerns about payroll mistakes across state agencies for many years, only to hear that the problems were isolated. “It turns out the issues were systemic,” said Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Maryland Council 3, the largest union representing state workers. “Our members were right, and the bureaucrats were wrong.” “We expect every person who worked to be paid for every single hour they worked, whether it was yesterday or 20 years ago,” said Moran.
- adapted from a report in the Washington Post
- adapted from a report in the Washington Post