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'Hundreds' of Houston ISD workers missing significant hours, pay from paychecks

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Published  July 17, 2023 9:55pm CDT
Houston ISD
FOX 26 Houston

HISD employees claim district isn't paying them for hours worked

FOX 26 Reporter Matthew Seedorff spoke with one employee who said she's only received half pay on her checks.

HOUSTON - Employees from the largest school district in Texas, Houston Independent School District, are upset after they say the district didn’t pay them properly for the hours they worked.  

"I’m a single mother and I have two kids," said Sandra Martinez. "Of course, we need some money. That’s why I’m working."

RELATED: Houston ISD: District hiring officers with higher salaries, sign-on bonuses

Martinez has been a custodian at an HISD school for 12 years. The single mother says for now two straight paychecks HISD has only initially paid her for half of the hours she spent working.

"I worked 80 hours, but it only shows 40," said Martinez. "They don’t say anything to us. The only thing we received was an email that said sorry. That’s the only thing."

According to Hector Mireles, President of Texas Support Personnel Employees Local 1, workers from roughly 100 Houston ISD schools are having issues receiving correct paychecks.

"Either somebody is sabotaging this superintendent or somebody is making a human error," said Mireles.  "If you have employees that have been with the district all those years, just like Ms. Martinez [who has] been with the district 12 years, and it’s never happened before.  All the sudden the Texas Education Agency takes over, and we’re having major problems with the peoples’ pay."

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Mireles represents HISD custodians, grounds crew workers, mechanics, cafeteria staff, and bus driver and believes hundreds, if not thousands, of employees are impacted.

"I’d say easily 6,000 to 10,000 employees," said Mireles. "They’re all classified employees. They’re the lowest paid employees in the district. They need their money. They need their check."

A spokesperson from HISD sent a statement to FOX 26 Monday evening about the issue: "We're aware of an issue with the net pay amounts listed on some employee paystubs," said a HISD spokesperson. "The error has been identified and corrected, and as a result we believe all employees will receive the correct payroll deposit on their regularly scheduled July 19, 2023 pay day."

Martinez says she looked over her paycheck Monday online, ahead of Wednesday’s payday. According to the HISD worker, her check is only paying her for half the hours she worked.

"I’m still waiting," said Martinez. "I hope they pay us. I hope so."