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Error causes cut to pay for teachers in Nash-Rocky Mount School System

Between 600 and 700 employees of the Nash-Rocky Mount school system saw much as 240 dollars less in this week's paycheck.

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By
Richard Atkins
, WRAL photo journalist
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — With less than a week before Christmas, hundreds of teachers in the Nash-Rocky Mount School System saw as much as $240 less in their paycheck.
The impact triggered an outcry on Facebook, with teachers posting: "Unacceptable! Someone needs to fix this now!" and "A bigger paycheck in the summer is so cold and unfeeling. Shame! Shame!"
An email explaining the dramatic change in pay came from the school system's human resources director, Donita Privott, on Wednesday morning.

Privott explained that, given summer vacation, many school employees choose to have their paychecks evenly spread across 12 months rather than 10, and health premiums are deducted accordingly. However, due an an error, the deduction employees normally see in their summer paychecks would be taken out over the next six months, with no deduction in June and July.

The error occurred when the district recently renewed its health coverage plan, listing these employees on the 10-month pay schedule by mistake. In the past, premiums were deducted from summer paychecks.

The district at first addressed the error by saying, "You have less take-home pay now, but in six months, your paychecks will make up for it."

"We regret and apologize for any inconvenience or hardship this may cause," Privott wrote.

Employees call that cold comfort

School board member Dean Edwards said teachers should not wait until the summer to recover the money.

He said the initial response isn't good enough.

"Not here," he said. "Not this time of year. Not for me. I don't care what time of year it is, don't be messing with teacher's pay."

Spokeswoman Christine Catalano blames the error on miscommunication.

"This was absolutely not a planned event," Catalano said. "It's not our usual practice, and we really can't apologize enough for the error."

She said they are doing everything they can to address the error, which includes cutting checks to reimburse the employees. School board members hope the system can have those checks out by next week and say district officials will work through the weekend, if need be.

After that, the they say, the health insurance deductions will be back to normal.

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