Thousands of San Diego city employees did not get paid today because of a mess-up at the San Diego Metropolitan Credit Union, which issues paychecks to the city’s 11,000 workers.
A credit union employee responsible for processing direct-deposit paychecks failed to do so until 8:30 a.m. this morning, which was too late for getting the checks deposited into the employee accounts, said Fred Sainz, spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders.
All told, about 7,000 employees did not get paid. Those who are issued an actual paycheck (about 500 employees), and customers of the credit union (about 3,500 employees) received their pay on time.
The credit union has been frantically trying to contact the 172 different financial institutions where city employees have their paychecks deposited, Sainz said. And it has promised to reimburse employees for any late fees or other charges that result from the late paychecks.
Sainz said employees who have their checks deposited into accounts with Bank of America and Union Bank — the two institutions with the most employee accounts — will have their pay deposited tomorrow. And most of the others should get theirs by Monday, Sainz said.
“It is obviously a major inconvenience for city employees,” Sainz said. “It was an unfortunate human error that had widespread repercussions.”