Educators, unions tell SF school board payroll system failures left staff unpaid, benefits missing

Dozens of SFUSD employees and union representatives used the public-comment portion of the Aug. 9 board meeting to describe persistent payroll failures after the district migrated to a new personnel and payroll system known as Empower SF.

Madison Williams, who said she worked summer school, told the board: “I was not paid $2,400 pretax in summer school wages on our July 29 paycheck.” Chris Klaus, a special-education teacher, described unanswered help tickets and said unresolved pay errors were driving experienced educators away. UESF, SEIU and other labor leaders urged the board to prioritize fixing payroll, fully staffing payroll operations, and compensating staff for missed or partial pay and lost benefits.

Natalie Hrisey, vice president of substitutes with United Educators of San Francisco, pointed to district resources and said: “There are $15,000,000 in ongoing funds and $70,000,000 of one-time funds that need to be used creatively to address the very real problems we're facing for educators.” Multiple speakers reported missing 403(b) and AFLAC contributions, health insurance cancellations and delayed summer stipends.

Superintendent Wayne acknowledged the severity of the problem and said district leadership has been meeting daily to understand and address Empower-related issues. He said there are actions already underway and that staff are prioritizing short-term fixes while planning longer-term solutions and personnel adjustments.

What the board heard: workers and union leaders called for urgent operational fixes, fully staffed payroll support, a transparent timeline to make people whole, and negotiations to address compensation and staffing shortages; some speakers urged withholding executive pay until staff are paid. The administration did not dispute the reports and committed to ongoing daily attention and further updates.

Next steps: superintendent and staff will continue Empower remediation work, coordinate with labor partners on compensation issues, and include payroll resolution updates in forthcoming reports to the board.