Teachers temporarily unpaid due to ‘serious problems’ with government pay

An error in Newfoundland and Labrador’s finance department led to the province’s teachers discovering missing pay on Thursday – the latest in a series of pay mishaps, according to the president of the teachers’ union.

Trent Langdon, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association, said the issue was reported Thursday morning after receiving a flood of messages and calls from teachers.

They told him that withdrawal confirmations had been sent the night before, but the money had not actually been deposited into their accounts.

“We’re talking about 8,500 people across the province and it was a circumstance where people weren’t sure how long (the delay) would last,” Langdon told CBC Radio On the way.

“(There are) a lot of people who are really relying on this money coming in right now.”

Langdon said the department was not aware of the problem until it was informed by the NLTA, but quickly took action to fix the problem.

He was told that most teachers should be paid by 3pm GMT on Thursday and was assured that all would be paid by midnight.

“We have people with mortgage payments, car payments. Will they fail to pay the installments and will fees be charged as a result?” Langdon said of the association’s immediate concerns. “We approached the government and said, ‘Look, if there are any fees, we want them to be paid.’ We were obliged to do so.”

CBC requested an interview with a provincial government official but instead received an emailed statement.

“There was a significant issue with teachers’ pay last night which will be resolved immediately today,” Treasury Chair Siobhan Coady said in a statement.

“Last night, teachers’ pay records were not sent to banks and therefore payments were not made overnight. We apologise; this was an unusual circumstance and an investigation is underway to ensure this never happens again.”

Langdon appreciated the quick response and the apology he received from Prime Minister Andrew Furey and other members of the government.

However, he noted that NLTA members have assured him that this type of problem is not an isolated incident.

He said problems with the payroll system have been known since at least 2019, when payroll responsibilities were transferred from the Department of Education.

“We are working with Minister Coady and her team to try to find ways to resolve individual issues, but every day we hear from people who either did not get paid what they were owed, were paid incorrectly or were overpaid,” he said.

“(It’s) to the point where we almost have a full-time person in our office who just deals with payroll issues. And in this day and age it shouldn’t be like that.”

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