A Department of Correction (DOC) officer will have $1,000 deducted from each paycheck for the next five years to repay the State of Connecticut after she collected over $160,000 in extra pay following a payroll mistake, according to a letter sent by DOC Commissioner Angel Quiros to Republican Senate Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, and Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield.
The massive overpayment was revealed in a recent audit that found DOC had approved a one-time holiday payout of $3,032 for the officer, but she continued to receive that payment in her bi-weekly paychecks for 54 payments, totaling $163,729.
Following the audit, Harding and Kissel sent a letter to Quiros requesting details of the overpayment and how the agency planned on recouping that amount.
According to the letter from Quiros, the employee has already repaid $42,167, including an initial repayment of $10,000 by check, $4,167 in vacation time, and the remainder coming from $1,000 deductions on her paycheck, which will continue until May of 2029, under a repayment agreement reached in August of 2023. So far, no payments have been missed.
Quiros placed blame on the overpayment on the hefty and complex payroll responsibilities in DOC combined with high payroll unit employee turnover, describing the job of payroll clerk as “tedious and stressful.”
“The DOC has one of, if not the, most complex payrolls in state government,” Quiros wrote. “Payments made to DOC employees are governed by a myriad of complicated Collective Bargaining Agreements covering the many Bargaining Units represented at the agency, in addition to state and federal statutes.”
“DOC, like all state agencies has experienced a large turnover in staff these past several years and historically Payroll Units experienced a higher than average turnover rate than other Fiscal Units given that the position of Payroll Clerk is an entry-level position in state services and given the tedious and stressful nature of the work,” Quiros continued. “The learning curve is long and steep and unfortunately, many Payroll Clerks move on to other promotional opportunities throughout state services within a couple years of hire.”
In the audit, DOC’s response noted a staff error in holiday payout coding and the inadvertent removal of a monthly report following the retirement of a payroll manager.
The overpayment issue was only one of a long list of findings by the state auditors in their report, which covered fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The auditors found a lack of documentation for overtime, medical leave, and leave in lieu of accrual; union leave time during which employees continue to receive their pay while conducting union business amounted to over $2.2 million, including 3,728 hours of pay to one individual that auditors said, “appears excessive.”
DOC is one of the largest state agencies with a $695 million appropriation in 2024, also accounts for the most overtime costs in state government, with $107.3 million being spent on overtime in fiscal year 2024, far outpacing any other state agency, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis.
DOC, however, was not the first or only agency to have a major payout mishap; in 2018 it was revealed the University of Connecticut had continued to pay a professor long after he was murdered by his wife. She repaid more than $50,000 to the university and eventually plead guilty to manslaughter.
According to Quiros in his letter, “overpayments can occur for numerous reasons,” and reaching a repayment deal “takes time” and requires the help of the Office of Labor Relation and the Department of Administrative Services due to collective bargaining agreements. A stipulated agreement must be “negotiated and executed before repayment can begin.”
“The agency makes every effort to secure repayment of any overpayments,” Quiros wrote. “If the department is unable to secure a repayment – either from the employee’s refusal to make repayment or from the employee separating from state service before repayment could be negotiated/made, the agency turns the matter over to the Department of Administrative Services’ Collection Unit who uses all legal tools and methods available to them to collect all funds due to the state.”
Was this article helpful?
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Having worked in corrections payroll I find it absurd that the receiving employee is being held responsible for this mistake. This is on the administrative staff of the finance department for not adequately training payroll staff. And also the administrative person’s in the DOC for not reconciling their budget and ensuring that wages paid are the same as the expected wages.
I beg to differ the employee knew they were receiving more money then they should have. Shame on them for not questioning it. That was a lot of money that was not their usual pay.
You are right, the DOC employee should have informed the supervisor and follow up by speaking to payroll department.
The payroll department is also to blame for not correcting the payment at time of stoppage.
And no culpability to the employee for not raising the overpayment to a manager?
When I had an extra approx 6000 added to my paycheck, I contacted my manager immediately about the error.
So she had no responsibility? She had to have known that money wasn’t approved for more than one time. Yet she kept her mouth shut and collected money that wasn’t hers. It’s not her money to keep, and she should have spoken up.
Even though there was clearly a big mistake made by the DOC payroll department, I find it hard to believe that this employee didn’t realize that they were getting overpaid to the tune of ~$3000 per pay period. There is also accountability on their part to make a phone call after 1 or 2 of these checks to see if they should really be getting all this extra money. There is shared accountability on both sides, but the employee should definitely be responsible to pay it back. They would have demanded to be paid back pay if they were underpaid, so they should also expect to pay it back if they are overpaid.
So she actually believed her hourly wage had increased that much. She knew, she should have questioned it after receiving that same amount after the second check! I just retired after 27 years of state service. I would have questioned it immediately.
Exactly it kind of sounds like an inside scheme , something doesn’t seem right I think it’s a much bigger picture here . How would one have the means to pay it back if more enough money was made of the overpayment in the first place …
They screwed up go after the one who screwed up. Time to call the labor department. Get a lawyer to represent all of them. Or walk out. Everybody walk out.
What about how corrupt Connecticut state workers are abusing autistic people and I was offered 4 cash settlements, all rejected, because I am the only one who will deal with these illegal activities, which now the Connecticut attorney general is investigating, yet the Connecticut attorney general facilities the rejected cash settlements that were offered. Who’s watching who here because I have been reporting these illegal activities since 2006 and the so called media refuses to cover this story. That’s how horrible society has become.
You should sue the state because you shouldn’t be held accountable just because they messed up. You shouldn’t have to pay for their mistake. It was their mistake. I would’ve told them that it’s not my fault that you made the mistake so, I’m not paying for it.
The mistake was on the DOC payroll employees. However the employee is mostly to blame for allowing it to continue. She had to have known or should have known immediately that her pay was wrong.
The organization should take responsibility also. The individual should not be the only person responsible. The DOC payroll failed
Secreting all that extra cash is not only immoral, it’s deceitful, fraudulent, and just plain dishonest and greedy. This so called ‘officer’ is an utter disgrace to the department. Shame…