[US] Texas school HR and payroll directors on administrative leave after $6.2m payment ‘fiasco’

On January 24, the Edinburg school board in Texas voted to propose the termination of Human Resources Director Margarita Oyervides and Payroll Director Zelda Martinez, a decision the women’s attorney says relates to work they performed to remedy an overpayment fiasco that followed the introduction of a new district payroll system in the summer of 2021, The Monitor reports.

Then, on January 27, the district announced that both women are currently on administrative leave. Legal counsel for the district says the matter has been referred to law enforcement.

“The District will not comment on the specifics of the alleged misconduct,” Superintendent Mario Salinas wrote in a release. “However, the District does forward allegations that may be crimes to law enforcement. In all cases forwarded to law enforcement, the decision regarding criminal charges is left to the appropriate law enforcement agency.”

Tony Conners - an attorney representing the women - said on January 25 that he understood ECISD had sent information on his clients to the district attorney’s office, however, he feels his clients face no criminal liability. Mr Conners said he believes Ms Oyervides and Ms Martinez are victims of a “witch hunt” being illegitimately justified by their receiving additional money for additional work responding to that 2021 payroll incident.

A string of payroll mishaps around the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year reportedly resulted in the district accidentally overpaying employees by over $6.2 million.

The district ultimately brought in consultants to help personnel adapt to the new programme. The board then kept a close eye on overpayment collections for the rest of that semester.

“They switched over to a new payroll system in the pandemic, and unfortunately many folks were underpaid or overpaid, so they had to take immediate action in order to get the kinks out of the new system fixed,” Mr Conners said. “And both my clients were directly involved in these payroll functions as HR director and as payroll director. And so they did the work.

“And their supervisors and the board - they were fully aware of all the work that they did. And they didn’t pay themselves, the district paid them.”

Mr Conners said he didn’t have the amount of additional pay his clients had received for that work immediately available but he described it as “quite a bit of a sum.” He said he understands the district contends Ms Oyervides and Ms Martinez should not receive overtime because they’re exempt under the Fair Labor Standard Act.

“And that’s faulty because the fact you’re exempt under the FLSA doesn’t prevent you from getting additional money for additional work,” he said. “They didn’t get overtime, they got additional pay. So that whole premise is gone, it should be.”

In addition, Mr Conners reportedly questioned why his clients’ work was being scrutinised now - almost a year and a half after the payroll problems - and why it was being criticised with what was, in his view, a weak argument.

“And it has so many obvious shortfalls that it raises concern that there’s some sort of motive taking place. I don’t know what the motive is. But we’re looking at the facts and we’re raising concerns,” Mr Conners said.

He said his clients have the right to ask for an independent hearing examiner, a process that could go on into the spring.

The vote to propose the termination of Oyervides and Martinez was reportedly not unanimous. One trustee voted against the proposal.

Source: The Monitor

(Quotes via original reporting)

On January 24, the Edinburg school board in Texas voted to propose the termination of Human Resources Director Margarita Oyervides and Payroll Director Zelda Martinez, a decision the women’s attorney says relates to work they performed to remedy an overpayment fiasco that followed the introduction of a new district payroll system in the summer of 2021, The Monitor reports.

Then, on January 27, the district announced that both women are currently on administrative leave. Legal counsel for the district says the matter has been referred to law enforcement.

“The District will not comment on the specifics of the alleged misconduct,” Superintendent Mario Salinas wrote in a release. “However, the District does forward allegations that may be crimes to law enforcement. In all cases forwarded to law enforcement, the decision regarding criminal charges is left to the appropriate law enforcement agency.”

Tony Conners - an attorney representing the women - said on January 25 that he understood ECISD had sent information on his clients to the district attorney’s office, however, he feels his clients face no criminal liability. Mr Conners said he believes Ms Oyervides and Ms Martinez are victims of a “witch hunt” being illegitimately justified by their receiving additional money for additional work responding to that 2021 payroll incident.

A string of payroll mishaps around the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year reportedly resulted in the district accidentally overpaying employees by over $6.2 million.

The district ultimately brought in consultants to help personnel adapt to the new programme. The board then kept a close eye on overpayment collections for the rest of that semester.

“They switched over to a new payroll system in the pandemic, and unfortunately many folks were underpaid or overpaid, so they had to take immediate action in order to get the kinks out of the new system fixed,” Mr Conners said. “And both my clients were directly involved in these payroll functions as HR director and as payroll director. And so they did the work.

“And their supervisors and the board - they were fully aware of all the work that they did. And they didn’t pay themselves, the district paid them.”

Mr Conners said he didn’t have the amount of additional pay his clients had received for that work immediately available but he described it as “quite a bit of a sum.” He said he understands the district contends Ms Oyervides and Ms Martinez should not receive overtime because they’re exempt under the Fair Labor Standard Act.

“And that’s faulty because the fact you’re exempt under the FLSA doesn’t prevent you from getting additional money for additional work,” he said. “They didn’t get overtime, they got additional pay. So that whole premise is gone, it should be.”

In addition, Mr Conners reportedly questioned why his clients’ work was being scrutinised now - almost a year and a half after the payroll problems - and why it was being criticised with what was, in his view, a weak argument.

“And it has so many obvious shortfalls that it raises concern that there’s some sort of motive taking place. I don’t know what the motive is. But we’re looking at the facts and we’re raising concerns,” Mr Conners said.

He said his clients have the right to ask for an independent hearing examiner, a process that could go on into the spring.

The vote to propose the termination of Oyervides and Martinez was reportedly not unanimous. One trustee voted against the proposal.

Source: The Monitor

(Quotes via original reporting)