GT Independence. Ever Heard of Them?

This post is a continuation of a post I wrote on my main blog - Here

Let me warn you that  the original post is a LONG post, but the entire situation is so ridiculous, I felt the need to continue to document the incompetence here, as I know it is not over.

At the time I began writing this post (July 20, 2024) I had 232 emails to, from and about GT Independence. That count begins in early March 2024. I will update that total when I publish this post. I am going to wait to publish this until I have at least 3 weeks of no issues with GT (or if the post just becomes too long with the on-going issues).

Quick backstory - 

"Late December/early January I received a letter and then an email from GT Independence introducing themselves as our new Fiduciary Intermediary (FI). Basically, they run the payroll for any of the Department of Developmental Services clients who employ staff as support."

It has been all downhill from there.

(See Reviews - as of 8/3/2024 and wonder why anyone would even consider using them; but our state did. At the time I posted this link their rating on The Better Business Bureau was 2.18 Stars BBB . I don't know what it will be when I finally post this. - BBB Complaints. Yelp 2.0 Stars. I can't figure out how to link google reviews, but you can search them if you need to).

In reply to the last email I sent in the previous post (yes, they finally did reply and I am not sure if it was because I wrote the post and tagged them or what, but they replied)

*Emails below and through the end of this post have not been edited in any way other than the removal/replacement of names.*

Email From GT Independence - July 29, 2024

Good afternoon, 

 

The missing pay from both checks 07/12 and 07/19 will be processed today we apologize for the inconvenience if you have any more issues please reach back out to us

Email to GT Independence - (Wednesday) July 31, 2024

Thank you for the email, but it did say that the missing pay would be processed on Monday. As I have been told more than once that there is a second check run on Tuesdays, I assumed I would see the stub yesterday.

When will this be processed?

Email to GT Independence (Thursday) August 1, 2024

I see that the pay stubs for service dates 7/21-7/26/2024 have already been posted for tomorrow (8/2/2024).

They seem to be correct for those service dates.

What I still do not see, is the missing pay for *Social, that you said would be processed last Monday (29th) - see your emails below.

I also emailed you on the 31st when I did not see the time posted.

When can he expect to see the .75 (3/4 of an hour) paid out from check dates 7/12 and 7/19?

I have sent all of the screen shots more than once now, but I can send them again, if need be.

Email From GT Independence (Friday) August 2, 2024

Good morning,

I apologize for the late respond I was not in the office yesterday. I will reach out to payroll and see why *Social did not receive the 45min that were missing on his check. I still have the screenshots you sent me in your prior email so there is no need for you to send them again

 Hope you have a good day

So, again I will say that I understand that the recent back and forth is over only 3/4 of an hour. If you haven't read the original post, please understand that the shaving off of a quarter (or half) hour is a pattern (shady) and I wonder if they just normally rely on people either not noticing or just giving up after getting the "rounding down" explanation (or never getting a reply at all).

But, you see ... I probably would not have noticed it at all if they hadn't totally skipped ALL of the hours Social worked one week and half the hours he worked another week and then refused to pay him for hours he worked and I approved for over a month. Now that I know that the "errors" - either short pay, short mileage or no pay at all - happen almost each and every paycheck, I am certainly watching each week. They shot themselves in the foot by not paying what was owed to begin with.

I would advise everyone who was forced to use this service, to check every paystub against the total in the employer portal - every week!

Email to GT Independence August 6, 2024 

 I have been emailing about this issue since July 19th. I was told that Doug's missing pay would be paid put on July 29th. It was not.

As of this morning, it has still not been paid out.

Again, I understand that it is only 45 minutes, but if you add up all of the 1/4 hours that have been "rounded down" incorrectly on his paychecks (and I am sure other's as well) it could amount to a large sum of money.

Over and above the amount is the fact that people should be paid for what they work.

I don't know if you are waiting for me to just give up and stop asking, but given the almost weekly errors, I am not going to do that.

Please pay out the 45 minutes that is owed to him. When can he expect to receive that?

On August 8th I received a message from someone who read part one of this post (I removed their name).

I don’t know where you are located but the state of MD has officially stopped taking on new families with them and are encouraging those of us who can to switch.

Currently on hold with them for yet another issue. We are hoping to switch once my sons annual budget is fixed.

Unfortunately, I do not think we have the option to switch here. I hope she is able to. No one needs this much grief.

Anyway... I did not receive a reply to my last email but I noticed that the check stubs for 8/9/2024 were already posted in the portal (on 8/8/2024).

Email to GT Independence August 8, 2024

I noticed that the check stubs for 8/9/2024 have already been posted on the portal.

Not only have you not paid out the 45 minutes owed from check date 7/12 and 7/19 that you said would be paid out on the 29th and haven't been, but his pay is incorrect for this week as well.

Attached are the screenshots from the portal for service dates 7/28/2024 - 8/3/2024, which clearly shows that he worked 10.50 hours.

Attached is his paystub that reads he is only going to be paid for 10 hours.

Also attached is a report of his hours that I ran through my company's time clock that show the same hours as what is showing in the portal.

Once again: He worked those hours, I approved those hours, the portal rounds up or down automatically (as does my company's time clock) and there is no reason any one should go in and round up or down again.

When can he expect to receive the .50 (1/2 hour) for check dated 8/9/2024? And when can he expect to receive the 45 minutes (.75) from the previous errors that were supposed to be paid out on the 29th?

Email from GT Independence August 8, 2024

Good afternoon,

I sent all your information to someone from our payroll department so Social could be paid out they look at everything and I was told he was paid correctly. I asked for them to reach out to you so they could explain what is happening and keeps happening every week. I’m going to follow up with them now and ask them to give you a call or email you immediately. 

Email to GT Independence August 8, 2024

Why would you email me that he would be paid on the 29th for the previous weeks, if they are telling you he was paid correctly? 

Please give them my email or give me a way to contact them. 

I’d like to see how this is all being calculated because it is not being calculated correctly. 

Sent from my iPhone

Email from GT Independence August 8, 2024

I forward everything you sent me and was told it would be taken care of but then they reached out to me to inform me Social was paid out correctly. There is nothing I can do every time you send something we inform our department so you Social could be paid out. I am only telling you what was told to me we apologize for the inconvenience and will be reaching out to you

Side note: As I know that I can be the queen of the typo, these replies could at least use some punctuation. 

So as I might have said in one of the 3 posts, It was suggested by my caseworker to contact my legislator. That was done today. They want to speak with me tomorrow at some point.

I will be back after they enlighten me with the way our payroll is calculated. I have been doing payroll for over 32 years, but maybe this is the "new" math. I do not know.

(Edited to add)

Email from GT Independence - August 9, 2024

Good Morning

 I am reaching out regarding payments for Social on 7/12 and 7/19.  You had reached out to inform us that he had not been paid the proper amount but upon research, due to our rounding rules within the app, he has been paid correctly.  If you would like to send over your time clock sheet from 7/7 - 7/13 I can review.  Upon reviewing 6/30 - 7/6 it looks like 7/3 may be the date that is throwing off the count.  His time punched was 4:09pm - 6:06pm.  According to our rules 4:09 rounds to 4:15 and 6:06pm rounds to 6pm, which equals 1.75 hours.  We do not round off of the total hours, the punch in and out themselves will be rounded up/down.

 I hope this helps but please let me know if you need anything further.

Email to GT Independence - August 9, 2024

I do understand the 7 minute rule, but on the portal and on my time clock at work (and every other time clock I have worked with), it calculates the time worked. So what you are saying is that a person working from 4:09 Pm to 6:06 Pm (1 hour and 57 minutes) only receives 1.75 hours in pay? If this is true, the portal should show that. I understand the rounding procedure but the portal shows (and I approved) 2 hours - as does the time I ran though my office's timeclock.

This would mean that the time records in the portal will almost always show more than what the employee is  actually paid.  

If this is the case, the portal needs to reflect your "rounding" rules, so that the employer and the employees have an accurate record of what they worked and what they are being paid.

I guess that I am just a little bit confused  as to why  they use a portal (the record of the employees time - like a time clock) that already rounds up or down to the nearest quarter hour of actual time worked and then they go in round up or down (I have yet to see an UP) by the time punched.

I mean, back in the day when we had paper time cards and we had to manually figure out the hours, the rounding system was the way we did that, but now-a-days when we  have timeclocks and portals to calculate the time and also round it up or down to the nearest quarter, I don't see the point of then going back in and re-rounding by the punch time.

 

Almost 3 weeks later....

Email from GT Independence 8/26/2024

Hello,

I checked into the portal account and saw that it is rounding differently than the app and our processing system.  I am submitting an IT ticket so they can go in and fix the portal so there will be no confusion going forward!

I am guessing this means that they are going to fix the portal so it does not reflect them rounding down twice.

I do have to say that since my emails to GT have been cc'd to my legislator's staff, the issues (other then the rounding down of time that is already rounded down by the portal) - have been less frequent. 

I am sure I have just jinxed myself by putting that  in writing ...

We shall see. 

****

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