Paychecks Withdrawn From OUSD Employees By Mistake

OAKLAND, CA — Oakland Unified School District officials said Wednesday that 2,821 district employees had their last paychecks withdrawn from their bank accounts by mistake.

In a statement sent to school staff Wednesday morning, district officials apologized for the reversal of paychecks and blamed the error on Union Bank, which handles the payroll.

In a later statement, officials said they had determined the problem was caused by human error and not Union Bank, and issued a second apology.

By noon Wednesday, repayment of the funds had already begun and some staff had reported seeing their paychecks reinstated in their bank accounts.

District officials said that during the process of correcting the error, all monthly paid employees received reinstated funds even if they did not have funds removed in the first place.

As public funds, those overpayments will have to be returned to the district. As a result of the mistake, some employees also incurred overdraft fees from their banks.

District officials said they will follow up with those employees in the coming days with details about double payments and overdraft fee reimbursements.

District officials said it was important to note that the error was not the result of district funds or any other issue with the district's ongoing fiscal issues.

"I want to be clear that this is not related to the current budget crisis," Superintendent Kyla Johnson Trammell said in a statement.

"I am deeply sorry for any inconvenience and stress this may have caused; however I am relieved by how quickly OUSD staff and Union Bank employees worked to ensure repayment of wages," she said.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock