A new state payroll system for In-Home Support Services workers―16 years in the making―has been put on hold after pilot programs in Merced, San Diego and Yolo counties crashed and burned.

“It has been an unmitigated disaster,” Steve Mehlman, spokesman for the United Domestic Workers Homecare Providers union, told the Merced Sun-Star after reports abounded of problems with timesheets, missed paychecks and other payroll issues for  workers. The union represents 65,000 of the 366,000 workers statewide who assist 440,000 elderly and disabled Californians. Many of the caregivers are related to those they care for.

The system is scheduled to roll out in stages but be running statewide by June 2013. However, on Halloween, the California Department of Social Services put at least a two-month hold on any more pilot launches.  

Doug Moore, the union’s executive director, said “Providers were not adequately trained on how to fill out the new timesheets. The counties were unprepared to deal with the large volume of payroll problems caused by the new system.  There was no back-up program in place to help counties deal with this mess and to make sure providers are paid on time.”

The state agreed. “System defects, design issues and operating problems have had adverse impacts during the pilot evaluation period,” Eileen Carroll, deputy director of the Adult Programs Division, wrote in her memo announcing the timeout. “The state and stakeholders have been concerned with assuring all providers are paid under the required payroll deadlines.”

The new computer system has been developed to replace what may be the oldest computer system in California state government: a 1981 Cobol-driven program called Case Management Information and Payroll System (CMIPS). Its successor, CMIPS II, cost $300 million.

Right now, CMIPS II is rejecting timesheets submitted by workers making near the minimum wage, engendering stories like that of Steve Allen of Atwater who told the Orange County Register he had missed six straight paychecks. “Literally, my life is in peril,” said Allen, who is himself partially disabled but caring for four physically and mentally disabled men for $9 and hour. “This is my sole source of income,” he said.

This has been a rough year for in-home health service workers. The state tried to cut their authorized hours 20% for budgetary reasons, but a federal court order in March put that move on hold.   

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

New Payroll System Bedevils IHSS Program (by Brian Joseph, Orange County Register)

Payroll System Rollout Will be Late (by Yesenia Amaro, Merced Sun-Star)

State Support Services Pay System Is a Problem for Merced Providers (by Yesenia Amaro, Merced Sun-Star)

UDW Demands that State Stop Rollout of Problem Plagued IHSS Payroll System; Cites Potential Financial Hardship for Thousands (UDW Homecare Providers Union)