More than 300 teachers haven’t been paid this school year
Posted: August 30, 2024
After state education department leaders stonewalled the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association’s attempts to help more than 300 public and charter school teachers who haven’t received paychecks yet this school year, the union began the grievance process and its president called on the Hawaiʻi State Board of Education (BOE) to get involved in the paycheck fiasco.
During a BOE meeting Thursday, HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. told board members, “the department and the superintendent have been less than forthcoming and actually they are being obstructionist when we have made repeated asks about how this has happened and which of our members have been affected. They don’t want to respond.
“This board needs to hold Keith and his subordinates accountable and make sure that this new fiasco is on the agenda for the (BOE’s) Sept. 19 general business meeting. HSTA will have a lot more to say then,” Tui told the BOE.
Without being provided a list of those who have been affected, HSTA is having difficulty determining the full extent of the problem and working with bargaining unit members to address the myriad issues resulting from not receiving their regular paychecks as expected.
The HSTA asks any teacher who has not received their first regular paycheck this school year to complete a survey through a link in Friday’s Member Matters e-newsletter.
On Tuesday, HSTA representatives had a conference call with Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE) Assistant Superintendent Sean Bacon and Human Resources Director Ainoa Naniole, who were unable to provide any explanation about the cause of the paycheck delays, and repeatedly refused to turn over a list of affected teachers.
Later that same day, Tui texted Schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi to ask why HIDOE officials had refused to release to the union a list of the names and contact information of all the teachers who had not been paid on time.
On Wednesday evening, Hayashi texted back that HIDOE was checking with their deputy attorney general to see if the department could give the union such a list. Hayashi claimed he wanted to ensure the department didn’t breach any confidentiality protections because he wasn’t sure all affected teachers had joined HSTA.
Tui responded that the superintendent’s arguments didn’t hold water: “You (Keith Hayashi) know that HSTA is the exclusive (representative) for the entire bargaining unit irrespective of their membership status with HSTA.
“(It) is our obligation to check with those who are affected, especially considering that you folks have said 330 of them are new employees. Without a list, we are being denied our duty of fair representation,” said Tui.
Some 377 teachers at schools on several islands did not receive their Aug. 20 paychecks, and HIDOE issued checks worth $2,000 and delivered them to the affected teachers at their schools earlier this week. Teachers who choose to accept the check now have to repay the advance at a later time.
Based on HIDOE’s failure to provide HSTA with a list of names of affected employees, the HSTA remains concerned the number of teachers who didn’t receive paychecks could be much higher than originally disclosed.
In a letter sent to HIDOE Friday, the HSTA requested an informal grievance meeting with Hayashi to address contractual violations.
In the letter, HSTA Deputy Executive Director Andrea Eshelman said, “Since August 27, HSTA has had repeated conversations with HIDOE OTM (Office of Talent Management) staff, all of whom have been unwilling to provide HSTA as the exclusive representative a list of names, preventing our ability to contact affected BU05 (Bargaining Unit 05) employees and address their individual and collective needs.
“To date, employees and the HSTA have yet to receive a full explanation as to why paychecks are delayed. More importantly, employees have been told that the HIDOE knew of the error as early as August 15. Thus, while HSTA can appreciate the HIDOE’s attempt to address the situation with checks on August 27, we now know that teachers have been financially harmed by the HIDOE’s failure to alert HSTA as the exclusive representative and affected employees,” Eshelman wrote.
Friday’s HSTA letter comes on top of the union’s initial email Aug. 22, asking for details about what happened and how many teachers were affected.
Teachers affected by the paycheck delay have reported bounced checks and failed automatic bill payments because money was not deposited in their bank accounts, affecting their insurance premiums through the EUTF system, mortgage and car payments, as well as various automatic bill payments to credit cards, utilities, and other businesses.
One teacher who wasn’t paid on time and asked to remain anonymous said, “This entire situation is unbelievable.
“Insurance premiums still have not been addressed. Nor has anyone brought up the fees that many of us accrued from automatic payments that did not clear our accounts,” she said.
“It is also highly concerning that two offices at the Hawaii DOE (Teacher Recruitment and Records and Transcripts) knew that we would not get paid on Aug. 20, and they failed to notify us so that we could stop automatic drafts before they bounced. Teacher Recruitment knew they sent it late, and Records and Transcripts knew when they received them on Aug. 15 that they would not make the cut-off for the paycheck on the 20th,” the teacher added.
So far, the HSTA has received calls and emails from teachers on Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, Molokaʻi and Oʻahu indicating they didn’t receive checks.
HIDOE says 302 of the teachers who didn’t receive paychecks are slated to receive their first school year 2024–2025 paycheck on Sept. 5, which will contain both their Aug. 20 and Sept. 5 paychecks.
The remaining 75 teachers will receive their first check Sept. 20, the department said, missing their first two paychecks of the school year. Those 75 will be offered an additional $2,000 for the delay, and their Sept. 20 checks will reflect pay for the Aug. 20, Sept. 5, and Sept. 20 checks, according to HIDOE, which emailed the affected teachers an update on Friday, Aug. 23, three days after they did not receive their paychecks.