Thirty-five furloughed Mesa Verde National Park employees who had not been paid since the government shutdown ended have received their back pay, according to public information officer Cristy Brown.
“Everyone has been paid,” she said in an interview at park headquarters on Thursday morning. “It is a big relief. The next pay period is expected to go much smoother.”
Of the 70 employees Mesa Verde keeps in the winter season, 35 furlough-status workers had received no back pay since the federal government was funded Jan. 25, and many others were underpaid. Back pay and corrected paychecks began arriving Tuesday evening.
A coding error at the park’s payroll provider, Interior Business Center, in Denver, was the problem, Brown said, and correcting it has kept the office “very busy.”
“Our first priority has been to get staff paid,” said park superintendent Cliff Spencer. “We are glad to be back open. Community outreach to assist employees during the shutdown was very much appreciated.”
Brown said those who had the delay in receiving back pay were “career conditional employees who are less than full-time permanent staff.” She said regular permanent park staff, including administration and the park superintendent, did receive the back pay sooner, but “not the right amount.” Before the botched back pay process, the last time staff received paychecks was Dec. 31.
Park services shut down beginning Dec. 21. The park road remained open for a few days but was closed after the Dec. 25 snowstorm because there were not enough resources to plow the road.
On Tuesday, The Journal obtained an email from the National Park Service Workforce and Inclusion Directorate that stated the NPS and its payroll provider were aware that “a number of employees” had not received retroactive pay.
The email stated payroll provider Interior Business Center continued to process payments Tuesday and Wednesday. Employees who did not receive pay by Wednesday morning were asked to reply to the Park Service Workforce email then.
About a half hour before employees received the workforce email, Mesa Verde public information officer Cristy Brown sent an email to all park employees stating she was aware that employees had not been paid. She said they “probably won’t get paid” until about Feb. 11.
Brown did not respond Tuesday to an email and phone call from The Journal. The park’s deputy superintendent, Bill Nelligan, also did not respond to a phone call seeking clarification and comment.
“I am sure you are frustrated and angry and maybe worried and scared,” Brown wrote in Tuesday’s email to employees. “There are employees here who are willing to help you out financially, to help ease a little bit of that stress.”
She wrote that the payroll system was “kicking payment back” for subject-to-furlough employees. She stated employees at IBC have to manually input time for these employees to override the system.
“We have done what we can at the park level, this is a system error,” Brown wrote.
Brown on Friday notified employees that there was an issue with interim payment for the 35 employees. She said employees could see deposits by Monday or Tuesday night.
“I know this is coming as an additional blow,” Brown wrote on Friday. “If you are in need of any sort of assistance, please let me know – you’re not in this alone.”
On Monday morning, Brown sent a “question and answer” handout from IBC dated Feb. 1. It answered questions like, “Why did I not receive an off-cycle payment yet?” and “Why did I not receive my regular paycheck in these off-cycle payments?”
The IBC stated employees did not receive regular paychecks in off-cycle payments because the priority was relief pay to those who had not received pay during the shutdown.
Another question suggested that off-cycle payments that some employees had received were “several hundred dollars” off what employees expected. The IBC stated off-cycle payments were lower than expected so that employees would not owe the federal government.
The weeks of delayed pay have taken a toll on the employees.
One employee told The Journal that a supervisor said they would be paid between Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. Then it was delayed until Monday.
“It really seems like we are just being screwed with,” an employee told The Journal. “They have no idea how many of us are struggling.”
The park reopened Monday after maintenance crews cleared rockfalls and repaired guardrail damage incurred during the shutdown.
The partial federal government shutdown was triggered by a budget dispute between Congress and President Donald Trump on funding a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. A deal was struck Jan. 25 to fund and reopen the government until Feb. 15 to allow time for a budget resolution.
The shutdown was compounded by the “largest rock fall I’ve seen in eight years,” onto the main park road, Spencer said. Huge boulders created holes in the road and had to be rammed to break them apart so they could be moved, he said.
When asked if there were any trespass problems during the shutdown, Brown said law enforcement “had several contacts with people,” but the specifics were not revealed.
sdolan@the-journal.comThis article has been updated to clarify the category of employees that had a delay in back pay wages.
