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Union presses town over recurring payroll errors and opposes private handling of related litigation
Summary
Local 1426 told the Fairfield Fire Commission that payroll errors have produced dozens of grievances and urged public discussion rather than an executive-session review of related litigation; town officials said much of the problem stems from software and position-control coding issues.
Mark Spoon, vice president of Local 1426, told the Fairfield Fire Commission on Thursday that payroll problems remain unresolved and that grievances are mounting. “Grievances are still piling up. This year, we have 32 since January 1,” Spoon said, urging clearer fixes from finance and human resources.
Spoon described recurring errors that affect step increases and overtime coding, and warned the union opposed sending related items into a private executive session. He said the union has prepared documents and expected some grievances to move to the state level; the union estimated five grievances already listed for a single employee and noted appeals fees the town may face if matters escalate.
Town and HR officials acknowledged persistent problems and described them as technical and procedural rather than intentional. An HR representative explained that regular pay is usually coded correctly but that overtime and anniversary-step codes move between systems imperfectly: “The overtime rate brings in things like education… We rely on communication from the department because we don't know if somebody has a change in any of those factors,” the representative said, describing three layers of backup (department notification, HR monitoring and employee pre-payroll review).
Deputy/Chief Case and other department officials said the issues often arise from position-control and from acting-position or promotion coding that is not programmed correctly in Munis/Paycom. Chief Case described efforts to set up vacant acting positions in the payroll system so appropriate codes will apply when someone fills an acting role.
Firefighter Caitlin Pereira — who spoke and said she had an attorney present — asked that any discussion of medical appointments or records tied to a workers' compensation matter be in public session with her present. Pereira said she did not want private discussion of her medical history and asserted statutory and HIPAA concerns.
Town legal counsel told commissioners that, based on legal advice, the town considered aspects of the item to fall under the litigation exception to open-meeting rules and thus appropriate for executive session; commissioners and the union disputed whether withholding the town's presentation would be permissible or fair. The chair read proposed executive-session language inviting the first select person and named HR and risk staff to attend and listing the pending case numbers and grievances.
After extended debate, commissioners agreed to let the legal process play out and did not hold an executive session on the matter that evening. Several commissioners said they wanted both sides presented before forming further opinions, and the commission deferred further involvement to town management and counsel.
What happens next: the commission recorded the union's concerns on the public record and invited town staff to continue working with HR and finance to resolve coding and position-control problems; no formal executive-session vote was taken at this meeting.
