Most West Virginia state employees will move from twice monthly to biweekly pay, beginning in May, after a vote by three government officials on Wednesday.
The Enterprise Resource Planning Board - made up of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, state Auditor Glen Gainer, and state Treasurer John Perdue - voted without discussion to lift a stay imposed Nov. 2 that delayed the second wave of employees being converted to biweekly pay.
That was after complaints from some state employees who believed they would be shorted money in the transition year and from legislative leaders who contended that the new system overpays employees by providing an extra, 27th paycheck roughly every 11 years.
"It's time we adopt business practices that move us ahead," Gainer said after the vote.
The auditor noted that the vast majority of American corporations use biweekly pay because the system is more efficient and accountable.
"I understand it's change, and people dislike change, and it causes fear," Gainer said.
Tomblin agreed.
"We've got a lot of time and money invested in the wvOasis project, and it's time to move on," he said.
That project, wvOasis, is the state's $123 million computer system that, among other functions, allows for standardization of pay periods for more than 40,000 government employees.
Tomblin said he often was frustrated, as Senate Finance Committee chairman and Senate president, when every state agency seemingly had different ways of tracking work hours and leave time for employees.
"The whole thing is to get some accountability," the governor said of the conversion to biweekly pay.
Last summer, the first wave converted about 9,000 state employees to biweekly pay. The second wave will convert all other employees, except for those who work in the judicial branch and employees at West Virginia University, WVU-Parkersburg and Marshall University. Employees at the three colleges will move to biweekly pay this fall
Gainer said he's heard no complaints from employees who moved to biweekly pay last year.
The resolution adopted Wednesday exempts employees of the judicial branch until issues pertaining to those employees can be resolved. Last week, an attorney for the Association of Probation Officers filed for a writ of prohibition with the West Virginia Supreme Court, contending that state law is clear that probation officers "shall be paid monthly or semi-monthly, as the Supreme Court of Appeals by rule may direct..."
Subsequently, the Family Court Judges Association filed a writ to block judges and their employees from being switched to biweekly pay.
"I'm hoping the court will give us guidance on some of those areas," Gainer said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Legislative Manager Aaron Allred sent a letter to the ERP Board, raising concerns about a number of biweekly pay issues he believes have not been resolved. Those include increased pension benefits, currently calculated using the highest three consecutive years of income of each employee's final 15 years of employment.
Allred noted that allowing employees to include the "bonus" 27-paycheck year in those calculations will increase pension benefits by $22.5 million, according to estimates provided by the Public Employees Retirement System.
He also cited seven statutes in state code that specify classifications of government employees who are to be paid monthly, including probation officers.
"I don't care how they pay; I care that they pay legally," Allred said Wednesday. "As the letter points out, there are statutory issues that have not been cleaned up."
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304 348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.