Thousands of are continuing to experience three months after the state rolled out its new system. At least 2,151 employees were paid incorrectly March 1, with the state overpaying at least 1,755 employees and underpaying at least 396, according to Andrea Chiapella, a spokesperson for the Department of Administrative Services. Those who were overpaid will have to work out a plan to repay the money. Chiapella said the state anticipates the payment errors will continue for the next few months as officials work to diagnose and implement fixes to its new payroll system, Workday, which the state rolled out to replace the outdated system it had used since 1986. “State employees rightly expect to be compensated correctly, and on time,” Chiapella wrote in an email. “The Oregon Department of Administrative Services has an urgent obligation to ensure this happens and we have invested significant resources to make sure we are meeting this expectation. We recognize this has been frustrating for partners and employees. ” Chiapella said the vast majority of state employees haven’t had any inaccuracies in their paychecks since the system went live in December and that the department has made progress in correcting many of the problems. She said 90% of about 43,000 state employees were paid correctly in January, while 94% received their correct paycheck in February and 95% were paid correctly in March. However, at least 4,500 employees received incorrect payments in January, more than 60% of whom were underpaid, Chiapella said. In February, at least 2,767 employees received incorrect payments, nearly 80% of whom were underpaid. In a letter provided to state lawmakers Tuesday, officials at the Department of Administrative Services said they believed all employees that had been underpaid in January and February had been made whole. State employees say that’s not true. Andrea Kennedy-Smith is a paralegal in the state’s Child Welfare Division and president of the SEIU Local 503 arm that represents Department of Human Services and Oregon Health Authority employees. She said she is continuing to hear from exasperated union members who have not received their full paychecks for January or February and are now noticing errors in their March paychecks. While some employees have been underpaid and overpaid, she said others simply haven’t received checks at all. In other cases, she said the state has failed to contribute to retirement accounts or provide employees with accrued paid time off they are owed – something Kennedy-Smith said has been a problem in her paychecks. She said the new pay stubs employees have received are confusing. She said she still isn’t clear whether she was paid correctly in March because the numbers on her pay stub don’t make sense. “It’s been a complete nightmare,” Kennedy-Smith said. “The state is relying on us as employees to tell them what issues are wrong with our paychecks. We’re spending hours trying to interpret our pay slips to figure out what’s wrong and then we’re trying to reach out to payroll to try to get things fixed. ” Patty Larios, a direct support crisis specialist with the Department of Human Services’ Stabilization and Crisis Unit, said she was paid at the incorrect rate and wasn’t fully compensated for the overtime she worked in January and February. She’s not sure yet whether she received the correct pay in March. Because the crisis unit is staffed 24 hours a day, she said staff generally work longer shifts and receive significant overtime, making their timecards more complicated than those of state employees who work regular, eight-hour shifts. In February, Larios said she overdrew her bank account when her automatic car payment was processed because her paycheck was supposed to cover that bill. She said her bank charged her a $35 overdraft fee. She estimates that the state still owes her about $800, which has caused anxiety for her and her boyfriend, who have five children together. “My boss has been trying to do the best he can to get it fixed, but it’s been really frustrating,” she said. Other jurisdictions have had similar issues with the Workday system. In December, to settle a lawsuit brought by employees who were underpaid after the county’s rollout of Workday in 2019. Oregon is also being sued over its botched rollout of the system. State employees Laurie Frasco and Michael Kennedy, both members of Oregon AFSCME, sued the state in January alleging widespread payment errors and requesting the state immediately fix the issues. They are seeking class action status for the suit. “Defendant knew, or should have known, in advance of implementing Workday that employees would be systemically underpaid,” the lawsuit said. “Defendant activated Workday for all employees in December 2022 without first verifying that all employees would be paid accurately. Defendant also did not conduct adequate testing of Workday before it went live. ” Other unions, including SEIU Local 503, have filed grievances with the state over the ongoing payment problems. Bradley Capps, another direct support crisis specialist with the Department of Human Services’ Stabilization and Crisis Unit, said he has worked every holiday since December, but that hasn’t been reflected in his paycheck. He said he’s sent at least six emails to the payroll office asking for help with the problem, but it has yet to be corrected. “You have a lot of employees who have been working for the state for a really long time that are getting the short end of the stick here,” Capps said. .