The Rochester City School District claims it has fixed errors in employees’ W-2 forms that led it to advise staff to hold off filing their taxes.
The issues pertain to missing or inaccurate information regarding retirement plans, employee health insurance contributions, and other pre-tax contributions — boxes 12 through 14 on W-2 forms — according to a payroll department email sent to staff late last month.
“Because of this, we strongly advise that no one use their current W-2 to file taxes at this time,” the email stated. “If you have already filed your taxes, you may need a corrected W-2 form, known as a W-2C.”
How widespread the errors were is unclear. The district did not respond to questions.
“If they can't pay you correctly, of course they can't summarize your pay correctly,” Rochester Teachers Association President Adam Urbanski said. “It's almost common sense that, apparently, is not common at the district.”
Urbanski was referring to the district’s protracted issues with its HR software Oracle Fusion that have affected over 1,000 employees since July. That's when the district implemented the software.
The district has attributed the W-2 errors to a “system migration issue.”
“Some people have good reasons why they file early, as early as possible," Urbanski said. “So there are these practical concerns, and uncertainty about accuracy exacerbates those concerns.
“But there is another level here at play, and it's much more widespread, and that is: more and more members and district employees are wondering, ‘Can they do anything right? Is there an end to this? How long do we have to wait for them to manage this correctly?’”
Even if this gets resolved, the harm has already been done, Urbanski said
The district email that advised staff of the errors also included a request that staff send a photo of their W-2s through an online “help desk” portal “if possible ... to support review and resolution.”
Later that day, Urbanski sent an email to union members warning them not to heed that advice due to possible risk of exposing personal information on the internet.
The district’s payroll department informed staff last week that a validation review is complete, corrections have been made, and new forms were mailed out ahead of the federal deadline.
But it remains to be seen if the new forms are in fact correct, Urbanski said.
"We are in a process of securing experts who are tax attorneys to evaluate the situation as it unfolds and to advise us on how to advise our members,” he said.
