Employees, supervisors tell council unpaid overtime and missed checks threaten city operations

Multiple Metro employees told the joint Government Operations and Finance committee that the January Oracle conversion left hourly workers with unpaid overtime, missing vacation and sick‑time accruals, and long delays in getting answers from payroll.

Louis Terrell, a supervisor with Metro Water, said "a lot of people in metro water are missing overtime" and that some workers have quit because overtime pay was not received. Jerome Boyd, a Waste Services supervisor and SEIU steward, said hourly employees were disproportionately affected and described barriers to communicating with timekeepers and department HR.

Mary Polk, a retired Metro bus operator, and other pensioners told the panel they waited weeks or months for pension payments; Polk said she retired Jan. 9 and received a partial payment March 20 but was still missing additional pay. Nikki Glassley, a public library employee, urged more timely and frequent communications, saying the union and employee advocates had been the primary source of clear updates until the administration sent an all‑employee email only on the day of the meeting.

Several speakers warned that continued payroll problems could worsen staffing shortages in critical services. Nathan Dillingham of Waste Services said unpaid overtime threatens pickup schedules and the city’s ability to staff essential operations.

Officials repeated that they are taking names and case details for individual research, that they have added temporary phone staff, are mailing pension postcards and will provide council with timekeeper contact lists so employees can escalate unresolved cases through department heads or council offices.

The public‑comment session concluded with officials inviting affected workers to remain after the meeting for in‑person follow‑up with finance and payroll staff.