By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Employees of some state mental institutions say the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation is lax in fixing a paycheck mix-up that has affected nearly one-thousand hourly employees. The mix-up began when a new state law mandating 24 paychecks a year took effect on April first. The move was intended to save administrative costs. The new pay schedule has resulted in about eight percent of hourly employees being underpaid and about 92 percent being overpaid. The problems are tied to the varying schedules of hourly employees. Department spokesman John Ziegler says the agency is still trying to figure out how to fix the system. He says underpaid employees have been or will be paid what they are owed this month but that the department has not decided on the best way to recover overpayments.