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Council hears firefighterspayroll failures tied to Workday; staff to report in one week
Summary
At a special meeting, council members and staff discussed widespread payroll errors affecting Los Angeles firefighters after a Workday implementation, considered adding temporary positions and authorized a one-week written report and referral to finance and the council for further action.
City Council members and staff on an item related to the Los Angeles Fire Department(LAFD) payroll met in a special session after public comment revealed ongoing pay problems tied to the city—s new Workday payroll system. The council directed staff to prepare a written report within one week, referred the staffing proposal to the finance process and scheduled consideration by the council as soon as next week.
The discussion matters because payroll errors have left many firefighters with missing or delayed pay and require both operational fixes and retroactive payments; council members and staff debated how many temporary technical positions are needed and how quickly retroactive payments can be completed.
Public commenters opened with sharp criticism over missing firefighter pay. A public commenter identified as "Bob" told the council in Spanish, "¿Dónde en joder está el dinero para los bomberos?... ¿Por qué están robando las nóminas de los bomberos? ... Es esclavitud." Council leaders then moved into staff presentations and questions about remedies.
An unnamed city controller's office representative described a mix of near-term staffing and a technical solution. The representative said the immediate staffing and manual-correction work would cost about "uno punto dos millones" and characterized the expenditure as needed to correct payroll records while the longer-term Workday fix is implemented.
Council members discussed alternatives and staffing counts at length. The materials reviewed included proposals for nine dedicated positions; staff and some members said those nine positions likely would not be sufficient and discussed adding as many as 15 to 30 total temporary or limited-term positions to address backlog and to process retroactive payments. The controller—s office reported an internal audit identifying about 750 cases with payroll problems that predate the Workday go-live; staff said the number reflects a variety of circumstances and that the cases represent roughly a third of the department.
On timing, staff estimated corrections and reimbursements would take weeks to months depending on the category: some reimbursements could be completed between mid-March and mid-May, while other retroactive payments and technical fixes could take longer. Council members repeatedly asked for an explicit timeline and a written report; the majority agreed to request a written status report within one week with a clear schedule for retroactive payments and the specific roles and durations of proposed positions.
Council action was procedural rather than a final budget appropriation. Members agreed to take agenda items 3, 4, 7 and 8 together, direct staff to prepare the requested written report within one week, and refer the staffing and budget details to the finance process and the council meeting scheduled for the following week. A speaker in the meeting referenced compliance obligations under "AB 2561" as relevant to the city's budgeting and financial-disclosure preparations.
The council did not adopt final salary or budget appropriations at this meeting; decisions on hiring and funding will depend on the forthcoming written report and subsequent finance review. Staff and several council members emphasized the need to balance immediate manual corrections with implementing technical fixes in Workday to prevent repeat errors.
The council set follow-up steps: a written report from staff in one week, referral of the staffing proposal to the finance process, and placement of the matter on the council agenda next week for further action and potential authorization of positions or funds.
