This is like a modern day Robin Hood. Only the City of Albuquerque is not robbing the rich to feed the poor, they are robbing the poor to feed the rich. We can not forget the pay raises the Mayor and some of his staff received, while the Officers of the Albuquerque Police Department are yet to get paid according to the contract they negotiated (taking a pay cut in fact).
Now on to the pay stubs. Our Eyes tell us that it is very rare to find a single employee that can decipher these pay stubs. If you work overtime, it is unknown and we think highly doubtful you are getting paid what you are supposed to. We understand that the Chief has yet to act on the numerous requests by officers to explain in detail how the officers are paid, and if they are getting paid what they are due.
We are hardly surprised that it does not end there. It has come to our attention that the City of Albuquerque is deliberately withholding money that is owed to its officers that retire. When an officer retires, their last paycheck still reflects all of the current deductions. When an officer retires prior to the end of the pay period (that is an whole "nother" story), one would think the deductions are prorated. For example, if someone purchases insurance, the monthly payment is prorated depending on the time of purchase. Right now, the City of Albuquerque deducts an entire month of deductions, regardless of your last day.
This exact scenario happened to one of APDs recently retired officers, Lynn Scott. She retired before completing an entire month of work. However, she received her last paycheck and an entire month of deductions was taken from her paycheck. The City of Albuquerque did not prorate her deductions. Officer Scott promptly notified the Department and over a month later, she received a letter from Mark Saiz (HR Manager, Insurance and Benefits Division). The letter indicates that the prorated deductions is "not possible".
Our Eyes tell us that Officers that retired from three years ago until now all have a grievance against this horrid practice and downright theft of monies that are owed to each and every one of these officers.
This is yet another example of the City taking from those that deserve so much more. Mayor Berry, you are no modern day Robin Hood, so stop trying to act like one.
As a side note: Legal action is pending. If any retired officer is interested in obtaining this information, please contact us at theeyeonalbuquerque@gmail.com
36 comments:
dang we at the comm center have been complaining about this for over 2 years. no one cares. the city has a "just suck it up attitude". even though employees are being discipline through no fault of their own. no one knows how much vacation, holiday, comp or sick time you have. no one knows if you are getting your correct overtime pay. union been trying for a while to get what is due to the employess and even told the city they are in violation of federal law. it sucks. and still no one will do anything.
What will it take for the men and women who keep our citizens safe to be treated fairly?? City or County, Police, Deputies, Fire, MDC: the Appointed powers that be are breaking local, state and federal rules at every turn.
You people need to figure this out, Mayor Berry and Chief Schultz do not care. They don't care about the $15,000,000 paid out in lawsuits. They don't care about all the infidelity among command staff officers and they sure as hell don't care if you are being paid correctly.
The only thing that will fix this is a lawsuit. The only ones who will make any money will be the lawyers. Mayor Berry and Ray don't care because it is the taxpayers money and not theirs. That is the mentality at city hall. Lucky us.
when you do get someone from payroll to answer, they always tell you that your OT, sick or vacation time, etc is from last pay period and not up to date..so unless you keep it up yourself...you will never know if you are getting the right pay.... AND when you do retire, you never get your last check..im still waiting and calling and calling adn calling..6 months later...
I was told that employees who were fired and had comp time weren't paid for comp. City intentionally kept money. If anyone out there had comp you need to contact payroll.
this is ridiculous. the union president promised us the chief was sending out something so that we could understand the pay stubs. still waiting. what is the chief afraid of?
Why don't you all stop complaining and just file a class action lawsuit for all city employees and those who have recently retired?
The other poster was correct, this is the only way you will get it fixed. Berry and Schultz don't care, it isn't their money.
So get a good attorney and sue the city. I will promise that Levy will settle it out of court to avoid the embarrassment.
There is a reason your pay stubs are so confusing. I think we all are smart enough to figure out that reason. As for last pay for retired officers, I too am having problems. I have been working with City Payroll and Insurance to get this resolved. As I see it I paid for insurance coverage I did not have. I must say that the employees both in Payroll and Insurance have been very pleasant and have attempted to help. I urge all retired employees to check your last pay. You may find that The City owes you money. If you are confused, I will be happy to meet with you and look over your last pay stub. As for all of you still working I am sorry I can't help.You need to be an accountant to figure out your pay. I urge all of you to insist that your union does what is needed to correct this issue. Pay stubs in the past were easy to read and understand . There is no reason they should not be that way now. Don't blame the payroll clerks. They are as frustrated as you are. I spoke to Lynn about the problem and she stated she may take legal action. I may join with her because right is right. It is easy to file in Metro Court up to $5,000.00. If the City wants to go down this road so be it. It would be so much easier just to pay people what they have earned or show us why we are wrong.
Sigala is nothing but Schultz's butt monkey. Don't expect him to do anything for anyone other than himself. Same with Berry. Has anyone looked into all the travel he's been taking? Why does Berry want to be out of town so much? Used to think Darren White ran the city. No question J. Edgar Schultz is.
To all City employees; Forget going to your Union for help. What each and everyone of you should do is get together take your complaint to an Attorney who specializes in employer/employee paycheck disputes i.e. law firm that has forensic investigators on hand and hire them to sue the city and to ask these questions of the city.
If you get 50 current/retired employees to commit to $200 each that's $10,000 to hire and start a pretty decent forensic investigation into City payroll operations and functions thus the City more than likely can't or won't be able to answer or defend themselves. They can't even get PEOPLESOFT the payroll software to compute paychecks properly.
This will require city employees to put some skin (money) in the game. City Legal knows this they also know city employees will not go to these extremes. Your Union will not get anything done with their legal reresentation they currently have.
In light of recent paycuts and now what appears to be the shorting of your paychecks hell $200 or even $500 dollars is not much when you compare it to the totality of a persons carreer earnings.
F.Y.I. it was long rumored that the former Administration were shorting everyones paychecks (APD/AFD) from everything such as overtime pay, regular pay, to vacation, sick leave, to include the payout of comptime earned in lieu of overtime. It is a very dirty and dishonest way to balance the city budget people!
To the men and women of APD/AFD, you know it's happening now it's time to either PUT UP, or SHUT UP; meaning hire an attorney outside of your Union and go for the throat!
My question for all is: Why is YOUR union not bringing a federal wage-hour class action lawsuit against the city? I could see wanting to work with the city at first, but 2 years? Some of the earliest claims you folks have are hitting the statute of limitations and will be lost. Maybe the membership should put it to a vote.
This is happing at the AFD, but it is used to hide the fact that Driver Adrian Glass is on PERMANENT up grade to LT. Check the transparancy site. He is also given all the overtime he want. We all tested for our promotions, Chief Breen. What YOU say about this?
I can never decipher my paystub and payroll is not helpful.
That's a good idea of everyone putting in $200 for attorney fees. Keep APOA out of it and they won't tip off the City.
Anyone heard of Schultz is still trying to fix APD? Its been six years, I think the warrant is due?
Let me see if I understand the logic of Stealth in this article. If I have an insurance premium of 100.00 due every month for my car insurance but I decide to sell my car in the 3rd week of a given month, does the Insurance Co. send me a rebate check for the prorated amount? Wouldn't it be imperative of me to anticipate (plan) to sell my car at or towards the end of the month in order to minimize the wasted insurance premiums? This sounds like someone lacked proper planning for their retirement. As far as the overtime issue, is basic math skills beyond your comprehension? If you can't keep track of your OT hours by simply making a copy of your OT slip, then you have bigger problems than basic math skills....BTW, I saw your union president and Ron Olivas over at Weck's on 4th and 40 this past Monday...Ron never pulled out his wallet and I can guarantee Sigala bought Ron lunch with union dues. He even bought his other puppet a cookie for safe measure! Cookies and lunch for Ronny at the expense of your union dues! How ironic...I guess you guys have something in common with Unoccupy Albuquerque afterall.
To answer the poster at 3:22
I cancelled my car insurance mid last month and I just received a prorated check from Farmers, refunding what I had overpaid.
So yes, insurance companies do prorate your refund, why doesn't the city?
The AFD is out of control, Lt. Bill Benjy has made 88,000.00. I wish I didn't have to take calls, and all I had to do is deliver medical supplies to the stations. This is overtime fraud, why not just pick up our shit at supply? Did it for 20 yrs. WHY are you hiding and paying overtime to two worthless Fire Fighters. Chief Breen? Mayor Berry? Union? FMB?
Eye, you need to do a story on the union as well. They are the enablers for the chief and mayor. I have no doubt they sell us down the river more often than we realize.
I have read the Eyes posting as well as the comments. Nothing but complaints and blame with no common sense. Any employee or retiree from the City can go directly to City Payroll and ask for an explanation or a review of their pay check stubs and deductions. I think you will be suprised how accomodating and knowledgeable these fellow city emplyees are and they do not report to the 5th floor or have ax to grind with City Employees. City Human Resources or for that matter Internal audit would be two other places to complain or get explantions or even a review.
As far as the last month and the deductions go, that is not something that only city employees face. EVERYONE deals with this.
Health Insurance coverage, no matter when you stop working, carries until the end of the month. So you have to pay the remaining amount that you owe, as does the city.
You guys need to get edumacated, and to see a comparison to car insurance is another error. You cancel your car, someone else owns it, then yes you get a proration check if earned. YOUR COVERAGE ended THAT DAY. If it is wrecked the next day? No coverage!
The way the health insurance contracts are written You are covered until the end of the month on your health insurance, AND I am willing to bet when she retired, her retirement coverage started the first of the month so there was no overlap of insurance or loss of coverage form the middle of month when she retired.
If she lost her insurance coverage in the middle of the month and retiree coverage picked up at the first of the month, who is responsible for those 15 days? She is...so who pays for issues or emergency room visits during that time? She does, so that is why all coverage ends at end of month, and new coverage starts first of the month. Sheesh...read your benefits booklet.
We all need to relax and quit with the unintelligent stuff, I see lots of good smart intelligent material here on this site, but this post is way off.
No one seems to bring up the issue of APOA Pres and VP. Joey is payed $36k for his hard work as well as Flip getting $28k. This was approved by the APOA board, not the membership. That means Joey makes $88k year and Flip makes $80k. Must be nice to be king.
Ron was hired full time and does not make as much as these two guys, but Ron puts in 40 hours a week. I woould bet my life that the Pres and VP dont work 20 hours a week combined other then eating out and smoking cigars. I will be dropping out of APOA soon.
I remember the days when the APOA pres and VP worked to help the membership, not harm the membership. What say ye EYE!
J Edgar Schultz. Keeping files on enemies AND friends. Just in case. Even has one on Berry.
bob lujan is working down at the wharehouse plus working overtime on the weekends. He gets what he deserves. he should be fired! how embarrassing to our department. Chief Breen Will promote him now. Good timing LT. LUJAN. Did Captain N. Muzik AND T. Watson give you tips on how to get promoted?
Station 17*
Shultz has files on people, but come December in a civil suit shultz is going to be found to be a liar when he testifies. Hopefully the new year will bring in a new chief after the civil suit.
I agree with 10:57..Im thankful someone is down there now that might help save whats left...keep it up...was going to quit also but now Im waiting
Joey and Flip work hard!!! leave them alone! they work hard at hiding and manipulating members. They work hard at pretending to be on the memberships side but theres no more membership! Theyve taken the if you cant beat em join em mentality!
Sure is quiet on Murdoch case, could it be about a Federal ruling on KS (USA vs. Alfredo Aragones)? Honorable M. Vasquez had a very interesting opinion on the case. I would be that the Brandenburg did not know of this case when she gave the go-ahead to arrest Murdoch. Schultz I know you read this web, you need to look at the case and get your own opinion which would be the same as Judge Vasquez. The bigger question would be, did you know this opinion exisited?
Kathy Levy deal with this?
If enought members would show up at the next APOA meeting where we could conduct business maybe things could be discussed. I think we should all take time in November to attend the meeting and in the meantime, lets do some "networking" and get some organization.
What Mr. Lujan should do is sue Chris Ramirez, Mayor Berry, CAO Rob Perry, and Chief Breen each individually in Civil court for defamation, slander, libel,negligent and reckless disregard, denial of due process, and abuse of authority/position.
Use the legal system against these individuals. All of these suites may or may not be dismissed by a court sytem but the paper work and mere filling of the suit will always be in their past thus leaving them to answer for it for the rest of tneir lives.
Ref the Murdoch case remark...what are you suggesting? So what if Vice Detective Sandy had his credibility impeached in that federal....this is APD where cops who LIE continue to get passes....
Oh wait, since Sandy was the complaintant on the Murdoch arrest I guess that totally fucks up the case. Maybe DC Paul Feist should think before he speaks and holds major press conferences. Well done APD detectives....
BTW where is detective superstar Vollmer??? Working leads from his squeeze, oopps, CI I mean....
What civil suit in December? It is public record so you can give us a hint.
Maybe this is the civil suit that the above poster is talking about.
CAMACHO O VS CITY OF ALBUQ ET
Case Number Current Judge Filing Date Court
D-202-CV-201001925 Nash, Nan G. ALBUQUERQUE DISTRICT
12/19/2011 8:30 AM JURY TRIAL Nash, Nan G. ALBUQUERQUE DISTRICT COURT Courtroom 602
@ Oct 26 1235: Countys version is Ellis, upgraded to fill a position thats nt vacant.
Y? Ask Dye, or Garcia, or 1 Civic.
notice the newspaper today? Possible class action lawsuit against county.
The reason 'we' don't whistle-blow, or complain, is, Retaliation. Takes a Brave (often retired) person to call there crap. Props to Sgt Heh!
ps: the fire union does biz at Imbibe, in case you need them to buy you a drink w/ union dues
I've been helped at payroll to understand my checks. You have to be willing to intake a lot of information. They have two new employees and a relatively new supervisor as well. Maybe you guys aren't speaking to the right person. Find the one who is able to explain it best.
Funny how the small amounts make it to the blog but the big overpaid portions are all hush-hush. Maybe if there were any honest employees at APD that step up and bring it to people's attention when they are over paid AS WELL as underpay issues, they'd have more time to learn about their check stubs.
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