[EMEA] Payroll glitch sent debt letters to unpaid DoDEA teachers during shutdown

Across Europe, teachers at Defense Department schools were required to check their leave and earnings statements this week, despite not getting paid amid the longest federal government shutdown in US history, after many were notified by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service that they owed hundreds or even thousands of dollars, Stars and Stripes reports.

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) debt letters were automatically triggered by a glitch in the payroll system, and teachers were told the issue would be resolved once the partial shutdown ended. 

However, the unexpected notifications reportedly caused panic and heightened anxiety for some recipients. 

“Not only am I having to come to work and not getting paid; you’re now telling me I owe money, so I’m being charged to come to work?” James - a DoDEA teacher in Italy who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of retaliation - told Stars and Stripes. “It really takes a lot out of the enthusiasm for the thing that we all love to do,” said James, who was told in the letter that he owed $600. 

Employees of DoDEA are reportedly “excepted”; considered mission-essential, and therefore continue to work without pay. 

It is not yet known how many debt letters were sent out, however, the leader of a union representing DoDEA educators said many of them had received one. The union “will take every measure to protect our members’ rights and will work with members on an individual basis as needed,” Richard Tarr - executive director of the Federal Education Association - said in a November 5 statement. 

DFAS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Jessica Tackaberry - a DoDEA spokesperson - said teaching and administrative staff worldwide had been affected by the glitch, which, she said, stemmed from the coding system used for employees during an appropriations lapse. 

The centralised pay system at DFAS “is not able to override these automated adjustments, which is why debt letters were issued,” Ms Tackaberry said. 

DoDEA employees in receipt of this letter need not make any payments on it for now, she added. 

“Once Congress passes an appropriations bill and normal operations resume, all timecards will be corrected,” Ms Tackaberry said. “it may take a few pay periods to reconcile them.” 

DoDEA operates 161 schools worldwide for more than 60,000 students, and more than 11,500 full-time employees are working without pay during the shutdown, like the many government staffers who have been deemed essential. 

Despite Ms Tackaberry’s assurances that the debts mentioned in the letters don’t have to be paid now, teachers have reportedly expressed worry that it may take a long time to remove the debt from their records. The situation feels like another example of “nobody’s looking after us,” James told Stars and Stripes. He questioned why no one had warned teachers that the debt letters were coming to avoid panic. “Those of us that are in the classrooms, at the schools, just have to kind of suck it up and continue on,” he said.

Source: Stars and Stripes

(Quotes via original reporting)

Across Europe, teachers at Defense Department schools were required to check their leave and earnings statements this week, despite not getting paid amid the longest federal government shutdown in US history, after many were notified by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service that they owed hundreds or even thousands of dollars, Stars and Stripes reports.

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) debt letters were automatically triggered by a glitch in the payroll system, and teachers were told the issue would be resolved once the partial shutdown ended. 

However, the unexpected notifications reportedly caused panic and heightened anxiety for some recipients. 

“Not only am I having to come to work and not getting paid; you’re now telling me I owe money, so I’m being charged to come to work?” James - a DoDEA teacher in Italy who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of retaliation - told Stars and Stripes. “It really takes a lot out of the enthusiasm for the thing that we all love to do,” said James, who was told in the letter that he owed $600. 

Employees of DoDEA are reportedly “excepted”; considered mission-essential, and therefore continue to work without pay. 

It is not yet known how many debt letters were sent out, however, the leader of a union representing DoDEA educators said many of them had received one. The union “will take every measure to protect our members’ rights and will work with members on an individual basis as needed,” Richard Tarr - executive director of the Federal Education Association - said in a November 5 statement. 

DFAS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Jessica Tackaberry - a DoDEA spokesperson - said teaching and administrative staff worldwide had been affected by the glitch, which, she said, stemmed from the coding system used for employees during an appropriations lapse. 

The centralised pay system at DFAS “is not able to override these automated adjustments, which is why debt letters were issued,” Ms Tackaberry said. 

DoDEA employees in receipt of this letter need not make any payments on it for now, she added. 

“Once Congress passes an appropriations bill and normal operations resume, all timecards will be corrected,” Ms Tackaberry said. “it may take a few pay periods to reconcile them.” 

DoDEA operates 161 schools worldwide for more than 60,000 students, and more than 11,500 full-time employees are working without pay during the shutdown, like the many government staffers who have been deemed essential. 

Despite Ms Tackaberry’s assurances that the debts mentioned in the letters don’t have to be paid now, teachers have reportedly expressed worry that it may take a long time to remove the debt from their records. The situation feels like another example of “nobody’s looking after us,” James told Stars and Stripes. He questioned why no one had warned teachers that the debt letters were coming to avoid panic. “Those of us that are in the classrooms, at the schools, just have to kind of suck it up and continue on,” he said.

Source: Stars and Stripes

(Quotes via original reporting)