CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Berkeley County School District has already paid more than $1 million for a new system to track employee work hours and time off requests.
However, the use of the system has been delayed as the district’s board considers feedback about the proposed policy requiring employees to use it.
Back in 2017, district leaders began to talk about the need for a time management system.
“Really what it is, is moving from a paper system to an electronic way of keeping time and keeping track of personnel and making sure that you are paying the correct people,” said district spokesperson Katie Tanner.
The effort followed the Brantley Thomas scandal. The district’s chief financial officer was prosecuted for embezzling more than a $1 million.
Consultants suggested the district get a system that could efficiently safeguard its payroll procedures.
“Based on those reports we received in 2017, our board had to take action to make sure we were being good stewards of taxpayer funding and that we are doing things in the most accurate and timely ways that we can,” Tanner said.
Kronos was the system chosen to handle the district’s time management, and officials believe it will address reported mistakes that led to lost money.
“We’ve had situations where employees, by the time the paperwork gets to payroll, the employee has left, another payroll has run and they’ve gotten another paycheck they weren’t entitled to after their time as adjusted,” said Marci Abrahamson, the district’s director of procurement.
The board is still working towards a policy to establish how employees will use Kronos.
“There was a lot of things that happened since 2017 that had to be prioritized,” Tanner said. “It then has to go through a bid process. You then have to look at all the bids, decide which one you’re going to go with. There’s a training portion. There’s installation of these actual systems, so that part we have not seen delays. We just recently experienced a little bit of a delay just with the writing of the administrative policy and the rule, and that is just also a part of the process.”
The school board has tabled the proposed policy until September as they evaluate feedback on the Kronos system.
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