More Administration Incompetence & Blunders

by Donald K. Wedding, UT-AAUP Executive Board   

The Jacobs Administration rules with an iron hand, but abounds with incompetence and blunders. The latest Administration foul-up involves UT Payroll mailing incorrect W2s to UT employees in January. Employees were not advised until February 28, 2012 that the W2s are incorrect. Corrected W2s have been promised, but not yet received. Many faculty have communicated their frustrations to the UT-AAUP. Below is the February 28, 2012 email from UT Payroll and an employee email reproduced with permission.

It is suggested President Lloyd Jacobs and the UT Board of Trustees be copied on complaints.

Initial Email from Payroll:

FROM:           Stephanie Tinsley, Assistant Controller

COPIES TO:    Carolyn Gallatin, Fiscal Manager; Patti Dreier, Senior Payroll Analyst
SUBJECT:         Reissue of 2011 W2 for Recalculation of Imputed Income  

February 28, 2012  

Imputed income as it relates to the Group Life Insurance coverage amount needs to be recalculated for 2011.  Therefore, we need to correct and reissue your W2.

Boxes 1, 5, 12C, 16, and 18 of your W2 will be corrected due to the recalculation. 

Our goal is to have your W2 reissued and mailed out to you by next week. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Payroll Office at 419-530-8780 or via email at payroll@utnet.utoledo.edu.

We regret any inconvenience this has caused you.

Response from a Faculty Member:

Hello,

We had our taxes prepared and submitted early this year, due to scholarship/aid requirements for our son. The day after we submitted, I received a note from payroll regarding the need to re-issue a W-2. Our accountant is waiting to rework and resubmit, and we have alerted our son's school that an error was made by UT. So far, we are out $265 plus whatever it is going to be to rework and resubmit. And, we might not be included in the scholarship/aid for our son's school.

UT says it will not reimburse and that "we can just submit a corrected set of forms to the IRS next year, no problem."  Well, I see this as a problem, especially since UT is responsible for this situation. I suppose there is going to be a new promotion in Payroll--since this is usually what happens when someone messes up big time at UT??

This is frustrating and has a personal impact on my family. Yet, UT doesn't seem to care from what we have been repeatedly told by Payroll. Indeed, the only "nice" note I got back from Payroll was after I cc'd Lloyd Jacobs to get him involved in the communication string.

As you might surmise, I am frustrated by the CONTINUAL ineptitude of different administrative units on campus. I've been here 10 years and EVERY year there is a problem with my pay, my summer pay, or automatic withdrawal for my Ohio457 plan (UT just "forgot" to take money out for an entire semester!!).

So, there you go.