Former teachers lose out on back pay

FRANKLIN TWP. | A handful of former Warren County Technical School teachers worked a year or more under an expired contract, but the school district believes they are not entitled to the back pay dished out last week.

Just as the two-year-long contract dispute appeared resolved, the teachers union is questioning why four former teachers, including a woman who has since died, are not getting paid about $2,000 each.

A New Jersey Education Association representative said Tuesday the statewide group is prepared to take the school district to court if the checks aren't in the mail soon.

"We're going to have a bit of a fight on our hands," Ed Yarusinsky, president of the Warren Tech Education Association.

The school district sent out nearly $300,000 in retroactive paychecks last week, but former teachers did not receive any money because they left before the contract was settled and are not considered members of the bargaining unit, Chief School Administrator Robert Glowacky said.

Other teachers who left the district at the end of this past school year received back pay because they remained employees when the contract was approved in mid-June, Glowacky said.

"That's our stance right now. If you did leave, we didn't send you a check," Glowacky said, adding that the school board will consult its attorney on how to address the issue.

School board attorney Bruce Jones and board President Harold Warne did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

Glowacky said he received no calls or letters from individuals about not receiving back pay. The district only received three complaints regarding inaccurate amounts on checks received, a low number that Glowacky takes as a positive sign.

The back pay covers the period between July 1, 2006, and July 15, 2008. The four teachers left the district after either the end of the 2006-07 school year or the beginning of the 2007-08 school year, Yarusinsky said.

Steven Weissman, a Somerset County labor attorney, said the former teachers present a solid argument for receiving back pay but that it is common for public employers to offer retroactive pay to only those individuals on the payroll at the time of the new agreement.

"I don't think it's that unusual," Weissman said. "You're talking about school districts that sometimes don't have a lot of money and they're trying to save some money."

John Ropars, a field representative for the New Jersey Education Association who participated in the Warren Tech contract negotiations, said former teachers have always received back pay in his experience. Withholding that money is like punishing them for leaving the district, he said.

"They worked for it. They put in the time," Ropars said. "It's pretty outrageous."