Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said the city is seeking to recover about $13.1 million mistakenly paid to Seattle police employees in retroactive wages.
“We are absolutely aiming to recoup that money,” she said. “The city must bargain with the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) over how affected members will repay the funds.”
The city said more than 900 Seattle Police Department employees received excess back pay. The payments were issued in 12 paychecks in June, covering retroactive wage increases for employees who were SPOG members between Jan. 1 and Aug. 27, 2024.
The mistake was in the calculation, not the city’s Workday payroll system. Instead of using 2024 base pay rates, the calculation used 2020 rates to determine retroactive wages owed under the SPOG contract. Employees were due the difference between their existing 2024 rates and new rates that included a 6% increase; using the older rates inflated the payments.
The City Budget Office learned of the problem in mid-July after the Seattle Police Department flagged a discrepancy between its budget and actual spending on retroactive pay. The city informed the City Council in early August. It notified affected employees last month.
Gee and Ursula question police overpayments, support reasonable repayment plans
KIRO host Ursula Reutin said the error raised questions about how the calculation was reviewed before the payments were issued. She also criticized the size of the mistake amid the city’s reported $175 million budget shortfall.
“I mean, this is someone who used the wrong pay rates, and somehow a $13 million mistake still made it all the way through the system,” Ursula said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio.
KIRO host Gee Scott argued that the same standard should apply regardless of which organization received an accidental overpayment: the money should be returned. Both hosts also said repayment arrangements should account for the impact on employees who did not cause the error. Ursula said some officers had told her they could owe between $10,000 and $20,000, and supported reasonable payment plans.
SPOG seeks accurate repayment amounts, files grievance over payroll errors
SPOG President Kent Loux told KIRO Newsradio the union is not seeking to keep money its members were not entitled to receive. He said the guild wants the city to verify the amounts owed and address potential underpayments as well.
“We just want to make sure that what we are paying back is accurate,” Loux said. “What we’re really fighting for is just accurate numbers.”
The union has filed a batch grievance on behalf of affected employees. Most impacted workers are represented by SPOG; smaller numbers belong to the Seattle Police Management Association or Teamsters 117. The city said those unions’ contracts already include procedures for handling payroll errors.
The mayor said the city had accounted for the error in its budget after learning about it earlier in the summer. The Seattle Police Department, City Budget Office, and Office of City Finance are coordinating efforts to strengthen internal controls and prevent a similar mistake.
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