Marin County says it mistakenly overpaid a group of workers for nearly 3 years
By CBS Bay Area
Marin County admitted it mistakenly overpaid a group of workers hundreds of thousands of dollars, and now, it could end with the workers having to pay it back.
Rollie Katz, executive director of the Marin Association of Public Employees, has seen it all.
“I’ve been doing this work for 47 years,” said Katz,
Or at least he thought he had.
“I think this is a first. And I’ve been in this county for 11 years. Certainly, a first in this county.”
Katz represents the county workers now caught in the middle of a costly payroll mistake by their employer. Earlier this month, Katz wrote to Marin County Supervisors, warning that back in 2022, the county mistakenly increased pay for bilingual social service workers by about seven percent. That raise, he says, was meant for a different group of employees but was applied in error and left uncorrected for more than two years.
Katz estimates the total overpayment at more than $300,000 and says some workers could be on the hook for more than $20,000 each.
Adding to the confusion, nine of the 20 employees impacted were hired after the mistake was made, at the inflated rate written directly into their offer letters.
“You can imagine you get an email saying you owe thousands of dollars, and we are paying you too much. It’s been very stressful on folks,” Katz said.
In a statement to KPIX, County Counsel Brian Washington confirmed the overpayments and wrote in part:
“The County acknowledges the significant financial impacts for many of the affected employees and is in active discussions with our employees and their representatives to work through these issues.”
Washington added that no repayment letters have been sent, and discussions are still underway on how to handle employees hired after August 2022.
Katz says the union has now made a formal offer to the county clearing the nine newer employees of any repayment obligation and creating a repayment plan for the 11 who were employed before the mistake occurred.
“Bottom line, and to use an overused cliché, we’re hoping the county will do the right thing.”
For now, county officials say talks are ongoing and no one has been asked to repay anything yet.
Katz gives the county credit for owning up to the mistake but says an explanation for how it happened and what’s being done to prevent it hasn’t been shared.
