As Vallas gets his, others wait for pay

Paul Vallas, the former chief executive of the Philadelphia School District, will get his final paycheck of nearly $180,000 within 30 days, as his contract requires, a district spokesman said yesterday.

But all other former district employees will have to wait months for money they're due.

A backlog in the auditing process that is used to determine how much each person is owed for things such as unused personal and sick days is the culprit, said Amy Guerin, the spokeswoman.

As of yesterday, 390 former teachers, secretaries, cafeteria workers and others have been waiting an average of five to six months for their money.

"Certainly, this kind of backlog is not the right way to do business, and we are concentrating our efforts on getting that backlog cleared," Guerin said.

Gilda Stephens is one of those on the waiting list. She resigned Dec. 22 after teaching reading for five years at Leslie P. Hill School in North Philadelphia. Since January, Stephens has worked at the Discovery Charter School in Parkside. And she's been waiting for what she estimates to be between $2,000 and $3,000 owed to her for personal, sick and summer pay.

"Why was his money expedited and mine was not?" she said of Vallas, who officially resigned July 6. "I'm upset. I'm disappointed in a system that I served diligently."

City Controller Alan Butkovitz said the district may be in violation of the state's wage payment law, which includes hefty fines for employers who do not pay their workers on time.

"Clearly, [Vallas] is getting preferential treatment and the little people are being made to wait five to six months," he said. "That's just wrong."

After calling the school district yesterday, Stephens was told the system was so jammed that paperwork for those who resigned when she did had not even begun to be processed.

"How dare [Vallas] get his money before I get mine," she fumed during an interview. "It upsets me that the school district was able to process his pay before mine. I guess they were trying to get rid of him and move along to the next guy. Or maybe it's because teachers don't complain."

Guerin said Vallas, who now runs New Orleans' schools, is not getting preferential treatment. "We are simply following the terms of his contract," she said.

A contributing factor for the payment backlog is a manpower shortage, she said. The office that processes the paperwork lost an employee to a round of layoffs in December, while two others are on long-term disability.

Before a former employee is paid, Guerin explained, his or her record is carefully reviewed to ensure that the payment covers all sick and personal days and summer pay - the money taken out of 10-month employees' paychecks during the year to pay them in the summer months.

"Unfortunately, it's that audit process that is backlogged," Guerin said, adding that the problem did not come to the attention of district officials until two weeks ago.

"We've identified some additional personnel who, beginning Monday, will work to help clear things up," she said. *