Paychecks that include the raise and retro payments for Classified and Certificated have arrived! It is thanks to your solidarity and commitment to our union’s bargaining campaign that we won historic raises. Refer to the new pay schedule for classified here and certificated here.
Classified Retro Calculation
Paychecks for classified members can vary due to the amount of hours worked, use of sick time and use vacation time. The total amount of work days since August 16th (the start of the school year and first day of the first pay period) to the end of the pay period for the March 6th paycheck (the last paycheck before the March 20th check) on February 27th, 2024 are 118 work days. If a classified member didn’t take any time off and didn’t use any vacation days during the holidays, then they have worked 118 work days. Using this as a base, you would multiply the number of hours you work daily by the difference between what your new pay rate to what you earned before. Additionally, the pay period from February 28th to March 12th should include the new pay rate for hours worked. Finally, the listed amounts are a “gross amount.” There will be additional taxes due to the increase in pay.
Certificated Retro Calculation
To calculate the owed retro payment amount for full-time certificated members paid on a monthly basis the formula is much easier. All full time certificated members won a $9,000 salary increase. For full time certificated members paid monthly, the $9,000 is divided into 11 months (the 12th month is DNP) which amounts to an increase of $818.18 to a member’s “base pay.” There have been 7 pay periods since the school year began (August 2023 to February 2024). One would simply multiply 7 by 818.18 for a total of $5,727.26 in owed retro payment. However, this total amount is reduced because DNP deductions were also taken since August and are not listed under a separate line item.
In the listed example, the difference between the old DNP rate and the new DNP rate is $62.5. When multiplied by 7, it totals to $437.50 ($62.5 x 7= $437.50). This total DNP amount is subtracted from the $5,727.26 so that the final retro payment is $5,289.76. This retro payment will be listed under the “diffprepe” line item. This does mean that full time certificated member will have an equal check in July based on their new salary. Please note the actual retro payment may also vary depending on the use of extended sick days, unpaid days, Prop. A hours or additional work paid at a per-diem rate. To calculate the exact amount, you will need to review your paystubs.
For full-time certificated members paid on a bi-weekly schedule, the formula is different. A yearly salary is divided into 24 checks. There are 2 additional checks for DNP. To calculate the monthly increase to the base pay, these members divide $9,000 by 24 or 9000/24= $375. Every paycheck should see an increase of $375 to the base pay listed under the “Salary” line item. Since the first paycheck of August 9th to the most recent paycheck of March 6th, there have been at total of 16 paychecks. One would simply multiply 16 by 375 for a total of $6,000 in owed retro payment. The retro payment will be listed under either a “lump sum adjustment” or “diffprepe” line item. The total retro payment may vary depending on the use of extended sick days, unpaid days, Prop. A hours or additional work paid at a per-diem rate. To calculate the exact amount, you will need to review your paystubs.
There is a small subset of full-time certificated members who are still paid for 12 checks. Their calculation is similar to the 11 months. These members have their $9,000 divided into 12 months which amounts to an increase of $750 to a member’s “base pay.” Given that these members receive their first paycheck in July, they have had 8 pay periods since the school year began (July 2023 to February 2024). One would simply multiply 8 by 750 for a total of $6,000 in owed retro payment. Given their is not DNP rate to be taken, their “diffprepe” line item is $6,000.
All full time certificated members will see an increase to their base pay, listed under the “Salary” line item for the current pay period from February 21st to March 20th. This increase will amount to $818.18 for those members paid monthly and $375 for those paid bi-weekly. Finally, the listed amounts are a “gross pay.” There will be additional taxes, CalSTRS contributions and DNP amounts taken affecting your “net pay.”
Substitute Educator Raises & Retroactive Payments
SFUSD management has communicated in writing about substitute pay, as asked. The UESF substitute division made it very clear that leaving substitutes out of the pay increase in March was unacceptable. And substitutes should see an increase in this paycheck!
Day to Day substitutes, EED substitutes, Prop A substitutes and SLP substitutes should see an increase to their rate in March with the retroactive payment in April. Para-educator substitutes should also see an increase. Management acknowledged that some rates may not have loaded the raise. You should be able to confirm your updated rate in Empower. I recommend checking and staying in touch if anything is amiss.
You should expect to see a communication from SFUSD management on Friday March 29 that will include this FAQ.
Click here to view the substitute rates (on B11 schedule) as the raises are applied 2023-2025.
Known Errors
UESF has been in regular contact with members to track system-wide issues with the retro payments and raises. The following are known errors/issues for both certificated and classified paychecks that the union is pushing to get resolved ASAP. Unless specified below, UESF doesn’t recommend submitting tickets that will ultimately overwhelm the process when a timeline has been given for when the issue will be resolved.
For all certificated members paid over 12 months (grandfathered certificated members and OST members), there is a month of retro pay missing for July. This means the District still owes these members $750 for the month of July. The District didn’t know their pay periods start in July which meant the District starting amending timesheets in August. The additional $750 will be in April’s check.
As per the District’s own FAQ, this paycheck didn’t include the retro payments for the additional .2FTE worked for those members working a 1.2FTE. This is a manual calculation that will be completed by the time April’s check is distributed.
There are a couple dozen members whose salary was adjusted a couple of days after the pay period closed. This adjustment led to errors in the processing of the retro payments whereby members received less than the expected amount of $5289.76. The District is aware of the issue but UESF suggests these members submit a ticket and forward their number to Frank Lara, flara@uesf.org, to escalate the matter.
For classified members, the two major issues are with longevity and over-deductions for the classified employee assistance program (CESAP). The new percentages for longevity won in the most recent contract have not been applied. The District has stated the retroactive increase and new rates will be applied in April. These rates are 1% for 5-10 years of service, 2% for 10-15 years, 3% for 15-20 years and 4% for 20+ years. For those classified members participating in CESAP, there was a system error that led to an over-deduction. For these members, UESF suggests these members submit a ticket and forward their number to Teanna Tillery, ttillery@uesf.org, to escalate the matter.
For all members, the current pay stub does not correctly display the “Year To Date,” amounts in all categories. This was the case last year as well. UESF was told to not refer to the YTD on it for accuracy. This is an Empower issue and it is why so much work is spent during the month of November to reconcile all accounts in order to offer accurate W-2 forms. The switch to the new payroll system will ultimately address this. We did have the District offer us a reconciliation report for certificated members that broke down the “diffprepe,” to confirm the amount is accurate. This internal report showed UESF that DNP had been taken out retroactively applied to the accumulated DNP for the year. Certificated members should expect an equal check in July with the new salary rate.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please reach out to ask-uesf@uesf.org. UESF will always ask that you first submit a ticket and forward the number before escalating a pay or benefit case with the District.
