HPAE Rutgers Alert: Hold Back Pay

On Friday of last week your Union representatives met with Rutgers administration regarding their payroll migration process. While we have several concerns surrounding this transition, the most pressing of these is what we will call the “hold back” week.  Right now (under the old UMDNJ system) when we get a paycheck, it is for the two weeks PRIOR to when we receive our check. The Rutgers system is different. Under their system, when you get a check it is for the week you get the check and the previous week. That leaves one week unaccounted for when the transition occurs (the “hold back” week).

We originally heard that Rutgers intended to put that “hold back” week they owe all of us in the “cloud.” In other words, they would hold onto that week until we separate our employment with Rutgers. The problem is that this is illegal under State law. They cannot indefinitely hold onto money we have already earned.

After our meeting we were told that there would be an offer from Rutgers on how to resolve this hold back week without litigation. Today we were told by a Rutgers’ representative that they would pay us back one day owed per fiscal year. That would give Rutgers five years to pay back money that we have already earned. Obviously this is not acceptable, and we informed them of such. While we do want to resolve this without involving lawyers and the DOL, we cannot allow Rutgers this much leeway – especially considering the vast financial resources at their disposal. Not to mention that integrating payrolls in this manner was entirely their idea.

We did provide management with a counter offer to resolve this issue. Currently, we are waiting to hear back from them on this counter offer. We will keep you posted as soon as we hear back from them!