HOUSTON — Some Houston ISD employees did not get their paychecks as usual this week and that sent some staffers to district headquarters to try and get their money.
HISD is one of the largest employers in Houston with some 27,000 employees. Employees told KHOU 11 that paydays are typically on Wednesday, but this week, the Houston Federation of Teachers said it got dozens of calls from folks who said they did not get paid.
"We got calls starting this morning that their paychecks had not deposited into bank account. Those were on direct deposits," said HFT President Jackie Anderson.
We reached out to HISD who sent us a statement saying it was aware of the problem and was “working diligently to resolve technical errors."
Now, electronic direct deposits are made on Tuesdays, a day ahead of the official payday. Because of the holiday, they actually went out Monday this week for those who actually did get them like Rodney Hughes.
Hughes, a teacher, saw some folks actually came to HISD headquarters Wednesday to get their money in the form of a paper check.
“I saw it earlier on social media. I was just in human resources. Someone was there specifically for that, trying to resolve the issue," he said.
Other staffers who were not paid complained they hadn’t gotten any information from the district.
“When we reached out to HISD we were told that there had been a computer glitch," Anderson said. "Employees would have the option of picking up paper check today or getting direct deposit tomorrow.”
But by mid-afternoon, the district contacted KHOU saying all direct deposits would go through by day’s end. The district had no official word on how many people were impacted or exactly what went wrong.
Read HISD's full statement:
"HISD is aware of a technical issue resulting in payroll processing delays for some employees for July 5th, 2023.
"Our IT and Payroll Departments are working diligently to resolve the technical errors causing this delay, and to prevent this from ever happening again.
"We are actively working to process direct deposits and paper checks for any affected employees.
"Any employee who normally receives direct deposit but would like a paper check today issued must reach out to 713-556-6440 by 1 p.m. to ensure prompt processing."