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City Council approves temporary staffing and funding to resolve LAFD payroll problems
Summary
The Los Angeles City Council approved temporary personnel authorities and funding to resolve long-running payroll errors that have affected members of the Los Angeles Fire Department after the city's adoption of the Workday payroll system and preexisting staffing shortfalls.
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved a motion to authorize temporary personnel authorities and short-term funding to resolve persistent payroll discrepancies that have affected the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Councilmember Tim McOsker, chairing the Personnel and Hiring Committee, said the problem predates the city's recent implementation of Workday and involves the complexity of fire department assignments and pay bonuses. "It is a problem that actually precedes Workday," McOsker said, noting that the city has "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of tickets" that need resolution.
The measure — introduced with amendments circulated before the meeting — directs City Hall to provide immediate staffing capacity to clear backlogged payroll tickets and to pay firefighters and related personnel accurately while longer-term technological and staffing fixes are implemented.
Why it matters: Councilmembers framed the item as an urgent payroll and human-resources fix that cannot wait for the annual budget. Councilmember Tracy Park said the measure was the result of committee work and urged colleagues to support the funding: "No expense can be spared." Councilmember Eunice Hernandez emphasized that underinvestment has left critical back-office functions unable to keep pace with modern payroll systems.
Details and debate
McOsker and other councilmembers described a two-part approach: (1) immediate augmentation of staff who are working overtime to process payroll corrections, and (2) follow-up work in the budget process to provide permanent staffing and technological upgrades so the errors do not recur. "The way to dig ourselves out of this is to... approve these sub authorities, these substitute positions, to dig our way out," McOsker said.
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez and others urged accountability for prior underinvestment in administrative systems while stressing the need to pay employees now. Controller Kenneth Mejia, speaking as an elected official near the end of the public-comment period, thanked council for its support and said his office is working with the fire department, ITA, and the CAO on fixes.
Public comment included multiple speakers who described workers' difficulty using Workday and urged the council to act quickly; portions of those remarks were not attributed to named staff in the meeting record and are summarized here as public input rather than direct quotes.
Action and outcome
The motion, brought forward by Councilmember Tim McOsker and amended in committee, was approved by the council. The clerk recorded a final tally of 10 ayes on the item.
The council directed short-term staffing and funding to clear payroll tickets and to begin technical and budget work aimed at preventing repeat failures. Councilmembers said the measure is intended as an emergency, temporary fix while longer-term solutions are developed during the budget process.
What happens next
Councilmembers said they expect the city's budget process to include proposals for permanent staffing and systems changes so the fire department and other departments are not reliant on repeated short-term fixes. The office of the City Controller and department staff will continue coordination with ITA and the CAO to resolve outstanding tickets and to report back to council according to the motion's terms.
